Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 56,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 751 shares during the quarter. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $2,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in USB. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,612,000 after purchasing an additional 6,079 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 46,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,244,000 after buying an additional 749 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 251,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,031,000 after acquiring an additional 6,805 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 6,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 742 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 77.4% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 12,616 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.59, for a total value of $1,427,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 99,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749,006.10. The trade was a 23.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total transaction of $3,114,246.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 209,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,837,274.72. This represents a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 219,812 shares of company stock valued at $10,385,665. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on USB. Citigroup raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Compass Point boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, U.S. Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.21.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

U.S. Bancorp stock opened at $47.22 on Friday. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $37.81 and a 12-month high of $53.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.66 billion, a PE ratio of 12.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.04.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 14.75%. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.77%.

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.