U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Upgraded to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $75.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $60.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.61% from the stock’s previous close.

USB has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $74.00 to $73.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $58.00 to $57.50 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.95.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

USB opened at $61.67 on Monday. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $43.46 and a fifty-two week high of $62.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.57 and a 200 day moving average of $55.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $95.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.96.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 13.55%. The firm had revenue of $7.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Venkatachari Dilip sold 34,522 shares of U.S. Bancorp 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,847,731.84. This trade represents a 40.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.00, for a total value of $2,280,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 207,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,813,307. The trade was a 16.18% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.21% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $396,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. WealthPoint Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. WealthPoint Financial LLC now owns 4,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $111,000. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 19,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 20,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Company 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.