U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) PT Raised to $52.00 at Stephens

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) had its price objective raised by Stephens from $49.00 to $52.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

USB has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.50 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.34.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of U.S. Bancorp stock opened at $49.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.99 billion, a PE ratio of 16.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $30.47 and a 52-week high of $50.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.63.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.55% and a return on equity of 13.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.23%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 135,371,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,051,096,000 after purchasing an additional 502,776 shares during the period. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% in the second quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $564,869,000 after purchasing an additional 43,437 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,312,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $528,523,000 after acquiring an additional 94,841 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,376,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,364,000 after acquiring an additional 325,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,478,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,295,000 after acquiring an additional 271,078 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.