Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Grows Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 24.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $3,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McAdam LLC grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 8,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 12,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens lifted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $49.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.02.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of USB stock opened at $53.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.23. The stock has a market cap of $83.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.02. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.49 and a 1 year high of $53.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, September 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 61.16%.

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.