Essex Financial Services Inc. Sells 346 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Essex Financial Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 346 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% during the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 35,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,158,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Spinnaker Trust acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $220,000. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 33.4% in the 4th quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 62,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after buying an additional 15,665 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $4,073,000. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 71.9% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 652,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,236,000 after acquiring an additional 272,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

USB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $46.00 to $49.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.02.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of USB stock opened at $41.42 on Friday. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $27.27 and a 1 year 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $42.32 and its 200-day moving average is $40.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.05.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.84 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.73%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.90%.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In other U.S. Bancorp 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

U.S. Bancorp 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.