Axiom Financial Strategies LLC Takes $241,000 Position in U.S. Bancorp $USB

Axiom Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 5,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 323.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 48,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 36,863 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 0.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 36,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 8.8% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 217,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,189,000 after acquiring an additional 17,630 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 9.0% in the first quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 8,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 2.2% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 88,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,720,000 after acquiring an additional 1,904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 26,909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.86, for a total value of $1,260,955.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 226,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,607,932.50. This represents a 10.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Andrew Cecere sold 140,445 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.34, for a total transaction of $6,508,221.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,360,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,041,584.76. The trade was a 9.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on USB shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.50 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $52.00 target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.55.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE USB opened at $47.30 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $35.18 and a 12-month high of $53.98. The firm has a market cap of $73.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.82, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.06.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $7.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 16.89% and a return on equity of 13.34%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

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.