U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Short Interest Down 11.1% in February

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB – Get Rating) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 9,170,000 shares, a decline of 11.1% from the February 13th total of 10,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,310,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BCK Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the first quarter worth $2,514,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 3.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 9,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 20.8% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 21,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,176,000 after purchasing an additional 3,663 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the first quarter valued at $1,731,000. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 5.9% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 86,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,573,000 after purchasing an additional 4,827 shares in the last quarter. 71.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

USB opened at $40.62 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $62.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.98. U.S. Bancorp has a 1-year low of $38.39 and a 1-year high of $57.92. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.61 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 21.26% and a return on equity of 16.13%. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 30th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 29th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.73%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 51.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on USB. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Barclays raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $68.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $52.00 in a report on Friday, January 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.83.

U.S. Bancorp Company Profile

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U.S. Bancorp operates as a bank holding company, which offers financial services including lending and depository services, cash management, foreign exchange and trust and investment management. The firm also offers mortgage, refinance, auto, boat and RV loans, credit lines, credit card services, merchant, bank, checking and savings accounts, debit cards, online and mobile banking, ATM processing, mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage and leasing services.