Associated Banc Corp Cuts Holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Associated Banc Corp lowered its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 169,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,404 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $7,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 16.6% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 401,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,348,000 after purchasing an additional 56,990 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $20,188,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 6.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 276,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,363,000 after buying an additional 16,686 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 11.2% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 564,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,231,000 after acquiring an additional 56,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 73.9% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 314,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,570,000 after acquiring an additional 133,498 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.02.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:USB traded up $1.15 on Monday, reaching $53.64. 283,697 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,316,837. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $83.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.02. U.S. Bancorp has a 12 month low of $36.49 and a 12 month high of $53.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.06.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $1,225,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Profile

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.