First Financial Bank Trust Division Increases Stock Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

First Financial Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 31,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $1,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 16.6% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 401,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,348,000 after buying an additional 56,990 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 2.8% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 846,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,704,000 after acquiring an additional 22,803 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 184.3% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 70,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,214,000 after purchasing an additional 45,560 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 544.1% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 13,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 11,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,763,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,659,000 after buying an additional 75,104 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, DA Davidson raised U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.98.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 0.1 %

USB traded up $0.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $47.86. 6,205,739 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,176,125. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $37.81 and a fifty-two week high of $53.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.08. The stock has a market cap of $74.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03.

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

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

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.