Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Acquires Shares of 15,013 U.S. Bancorp $USB

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 15,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $781,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 146,376,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,810,665,000 after buying an additional 1,828,404 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 69,701,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,755,083,000 after acquiring an additional 522,368 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,679,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,518,000 after acquiring an additional 443,646 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,887,497,000. Finally, Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 5,236.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 33,350,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,779,556,000 after purchasing an additional 32,725,000 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson upped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

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

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE USB 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. The business’s 50 day moving average is $58.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.22. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $43.46 and a 52-week high of $64.84. The firm has a market cap of $98.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $0.52 dividend. 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 currently 41.52%.

More 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

About U.S. Bancorp

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.