Citigroup Upgrades U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) to “Buy”

Citigroup upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $65.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $49.00.

USB has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens raised their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.02.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of USB stock opened at $53.63 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.49 and a fifty-two week high of $53.93.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in USB. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 32.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,913,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,922,784,000 after acquiring an additional 15,746,852 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 723.7% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,211,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $146,864,000 after buying an additional 2,821,642 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1,438.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,263,296 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,853,000 after buying an additional 2,116,175 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 313.8% during the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,698,642 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,903,000 after buying an additional 2,046,522 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 109.7% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 3,531,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,491,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.