First Trust Advisors LP Grows Position in U.S. Bancorp $USB

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 39.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,118,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,314,081 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.52% of U.S. Bancorp worth $422,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 13,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Formidable Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC now owns 23,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,247,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners increased its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 4,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richmond Investment Services LLC raised its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Richmond Investment Services LLC now owns 10,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other U.S. Bancorp news, EVP Venkatachari Dilip sold 34,522 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $1,916,661.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,292 shares in the company, valued at $2,847,731.84. This represents a 40.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key U.S. Bancorp News

Here are the key news stories impacting U.S. Bancorp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI upgraded U.S. Bancorp (USB) from in-line to outperform and set a $72 price target, pointing to meaningful upside from current levels. The Fly article
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised U.S. Bancorp (USB) from underweight to neutral and increased its price target to $67.50, citing growth in fee revenue. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted U.S. Bancorp as a strong dividend stock, which may be supporting investor interest in the name. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles compared USB’s year-to-date performance with other financial stocks, suggesting the stock has been performing solidly relative to peers, but these pieces were mostly informational rather than clearly market-moving. MSN article

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on USB shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised U.S. Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $67.50 in a research note on Monday. Barclays boosted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. BTIG Research set a $67.50 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.00.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of USB stock opened at $63.69 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $43.46 and a 52 week high of $64.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.78 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $58.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.22.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.58 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 18.49%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 41.52%.

U.S. Bancorp Profile

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is a bank holding company and the parent of U.S. Bank, a national commercial bank that provides a wide range of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services. The company operates through consumer and business banking, commercial banking, payment services, and wealth management segments. Its product set includes deposit accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgage origination and servicing, credit and debit card services, treasury and cash management, merchant processing, and institutional and trust services.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.