Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, LiveTradingNews reports. Jefferies Financial Group also issued estimates for U.S. Bancorp’s Q4 2020 earnings at $0.97 EPS, FY2020 earnings at $3.08 EPS and Q1 2021 earnings at $0.99 EPS.
A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on USB. TheStreet raised U.S. Bancorp from a c rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, November 30th. Stephens raised U.S. Bancorp from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Monday, November 30th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised U.S. Bancorp from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. The stock has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $49.93.
Shares of USB stock opened at $48.40 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $46.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.14. U.S. Bancorp has a 1-year low of $28.36 and a 1-year high of $55.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $72.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.08.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.08. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.99% and a net margin of 18.68%. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 31st were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 30th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.71%.
U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.
In other news, insider James B. Kelligrew sold 2,868 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.55, for a total value of $116,297.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 60,933 shares in the company, valued at $2,470,833.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,330,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $621,305,000 after acquiring an additional 1,033,537 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 21.6% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,491,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $496,773,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392,958 shares in the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 5,272,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $189,014,000 after acquiring an additional 132,491 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 16.5% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,851,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,914,000 after acquiring an additional 686,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,786,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $171,581,000 after buying an additional 626,697 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.
About U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides various financial services in the United States. It operates in five segments: Corporate and Commercial Banking, Consumer and Business Banking, Wealth Management and Investment Services, Payment Services, and Treasury and Corporate Support.
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