Freestone Grove Partners LP Acquires New Holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 221,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,607,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of USB. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 42.0% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 28,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after buying an additional 8,542 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $1,018,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 138,836,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,640,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079,056 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 36.9% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,158,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,427,000 after purchasing an additional 312,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 380,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,212,000 after purchasing an additional 38,802 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total value of $3,114,246.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 209,482 shares in the company, valued at $9,837,274.72. The trade was a 24.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Aleem Gillani bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $37.32 per share, with a total value of $186,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $559,800. This represents a 50.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 219,812 shares of company stock worth $10,385,665 in the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

USB opened at $40.52 on Friday. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $35.18 and a 52-week high of $53.98. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.44. The company has a market cap of $63.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.91. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.06. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 49.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $57.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $54.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $61.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.48.

U.S. Bancorp Company 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.