Founders Financial Alliance LLC Takes $182,000 Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Founders Financial Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $182,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mufg Bank LTD. increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 54.1% in the third quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. now owns 68,374,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,260,450,000 after buying an additional 24,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $827,370,000. Aristotle Capital Management LLC increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 266.6% in the third quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,467,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $775,842,000 after buying an additional 17,066,479 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 5.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,513,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,513,127,000 after buying an additional 6,479,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 120.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 8,810,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $291,285,000 after buying an additional 4,813,976 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. HSBC upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. DA Davidson cut their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.02.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 1.3 %

USB stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $40.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,156,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,008,351. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.37. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $29.33 and a 1 year high of $45.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 1.05.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.84%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.90%.

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.