Franklin Resources Inc. Has $450.79 Million Stock Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,424,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,475,562 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $450,793,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 8,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors raised its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 20,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC now owns 5,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 12,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 31,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on USB. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.21.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Down 0.0 %

U.S. Bancorp stock opened at $42.24 on Tuesday. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $37.81 and a fifty-two week high of $53.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.58.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.77%.

Insider Activity

In other U.S. Bancorp news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,451 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $1,022,140.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,440,751.55. This trade represents a 9.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total value of $3,114,246.32. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 209,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,837,274.72. This represents a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 219,812 shares of company stock worth $10,385,665 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.23% 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.