Advisory Alpha LLC Buys Shares of 5,258 U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Advisory Alpha LLC bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 33,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,460,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 3.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 3.4% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 8,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Perkins Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 2.0% in the third quarter. Perkins Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New boosted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 16,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE USB opened at $43.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.21. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $27.27 and a twelve month high of $45.85.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.89% and a net margin of 13.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.55%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

USB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. HSBC raised U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens cut U.S. Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Odeon Capital Group raised U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.93 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $61.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $487,993.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 106,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,313,616.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.37, for a total transaction of $1,152,904.71. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 144,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,255,515.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $487,993.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 106,958 shares in the company, valued at $4,313,616.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,265 shares of company stock worth $2,535,903 in the last ninety days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Company 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.