Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lowered its holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 4.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in USB. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $1,340,000. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 2,056.5% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 218,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,774,000 after acquiring an additional 208,528 shares during the last quarter. Bowman & Co S.C. acquired a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $207,000. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 8.1% during the first quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 624,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,906,000 after purchasing an additional 46,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 32.9% during the first quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 26,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 6,491 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

USB traded down $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.02. The stock had a trading volume of 1,333,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,341,436. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. U.S. Bancorp has a 1-year low of $30.47 and a 1-year high of $50.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.73.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 12.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is 66.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,363,603.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on USB shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley upgraded U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.71.

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.