Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 4,686 U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in U.S. Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $20,188,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 276,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,363,000 after buying an additional 16,686 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $732,000. Comerica Bank raised its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 564,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,231,000 after acquiring an additional 56,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc lifted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 73.9% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 314,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,570,000 after acquiring an additional 133,498 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:USB opened at $50.80 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $79.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.53. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.61 and a twelve month high of $51.76.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. U.S. Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on USB. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, StockNews.com raised U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.