Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $4.97 Million Stock Holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 108,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,881 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $4,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in USB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $20,188,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 6.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 276,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,363,000 after buying an additional 16,686 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 11.2% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 564,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,231,000 after buying an additional 56,738 shares during the period. M&G Plc increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 73.9% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 314,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,570,000 after acquiring an additional 133,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1,140.5% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 20,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 18,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

USB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.22.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. This represents a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of USB stock opened at $49.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.71. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.49 and a 1 year high of $51.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $77.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.02.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. U.S. Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.