Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 8,897 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 343,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,897 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $14,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Paradigm Financial Partners LLC now owns 33,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,439,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. Fulton Breakefield Broenniman LLC bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $224,000. Spinnaker Trust bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $220,000. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 12,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the period. Finally, AM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 117,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,076,000 after purchasing an additional 3,406 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com lowered U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.02.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of USB stock opened at $41.05 on Thursday. 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 1.07, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.34. The company has a market cap of $63.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.05.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.01. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.90%.

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.