Essex Financial Services Inc. Raises Stock Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 652 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 16.6% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 401,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,348,000 after acquiring an additional 56,990 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,018,000. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 846,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,704,000 after purchasing an additional 22,803 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 184.3% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Keystone Financial Planning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Keystone Financial Planning Inc. now owns 72,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 16,552 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on U.S. Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “hold” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.21.

Insider Activity

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.59, for a total transaction of $1,427,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,790 shares in the company, valued at $4,749,006.10. This represents a 23.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,451 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.65, for a total value of $1,022,140.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,440,751.55. This trade represents a 9.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 219,812 shares of company stock worth $10,385,665. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE USB opened at $47.52 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $74.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.04. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $37.81 and a 52-week high of $53.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $48.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.50.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 14.75%. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.77%.

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.