Truist Financial Initiates Coverage on U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Truist Financial began coverage on shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage issued a hold rating and a $54.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on USB. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.07.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of USB stock opened at $48.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $75.66 billion, a PE ratio of 14.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.21 and a 200-day moving average of $46.41. 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 one year low of $37.81 and a one year high of $53.98.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is 61.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of USB. First Hawaiian Bank grew its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 37.3% in the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 37,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,787,000 after purchasing an additional 10,145 shares during the last quarter. InvesTrust bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $6,516,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $1,018,000. One Wealth Capital Management LLC bought a new position in U.S. Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $238,000. Finally, First County Bank CT lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 19,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $925,000 after buying an additional 680 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.