Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 3,862,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $184,733,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $287,000. First Business Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $601,000 after acquiring an additional 3,529 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 18,895 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 449,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,501,000 after acquiring an additional 2,101 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,986,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.59, for a total transaction of $1,427,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 99,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749,006.10. This trade represents a 23.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Andrew Cecere sold 102,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.25, for a total transaction of $4,821,579.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,230,316 shares in the company, valued at $58,132,431. This represents a 7.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 219,812 shares of company stock worth $10,385,665. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:USB opened at $44.77 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.02. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $37.81 and a 12-month high of $53.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 12.94%. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.77%.

U.S. Bancorp Profile

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.