Brokerages Set U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Target Price at $51.22

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.02.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

USB opened at $53.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $83.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.23. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.49 and a 1 year high of $53.93.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.16%.

Insider Activity

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,282,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,110,115,000 after purchasing an additional 819,805 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 32.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,913,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,922,784,000 after buying an additional 15,746,852 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,328,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,164,350,000 after acquiring an additional 1,796,336 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,086,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,616,000 after acquiring an additional 599,852 shares during the period. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% in the second quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $564,869,000 after acquiring an additional 43,437 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides various financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional organizations, governmental entities, and other financial institutions in the United States. It operates through Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking; Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; and Treasury and Corporate Support segments.