Kovack Advisors Inc. Acquires 815 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 815 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CGC Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on USB. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $53.00 in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.14.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:USB opened at $41.12 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.34 and a 200 day moving average of $40.21. The stock has a market cap of $64.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.05. U.S. Bancorp has a 12 month low of $27.27 and a 12 month high of $45.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 13.93%. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th were given a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.77%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 64.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 144,236 shares in the company, valued at $6,255,515.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 144,236 shares in the company, valued at $6,255,515.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,837,573.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.