Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 40,853 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 178% compared to the average daily volume of 14,691 put options.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of USB opened at $39.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.45 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.05. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $27.27 and a 1 year high of $45.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.72.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.97%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on USB. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $35.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. TheStreet raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down previously from $52.00) on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.37, for a total transaction of $1,152,904.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 144,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,255,515.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in USB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 5.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,513,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,513,127,000 after buying an additional 6,479,642 shares during the period. Mufg Bank LTD. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 54.1% during the third quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. now owns 68,374,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,260,450,000 after buying an additional 24,000,000 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 130,768.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,273,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,628,544,000 after buying an additional 60,227,825 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 37,470,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,238,765,000 after buying an additional 674,583 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 33,719,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,459,363,000 after buying an additional 2,598,163 shares during the period. 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.