Vista Investment Partners II LLC Takes Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 73,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,493,000. U.S. Bancorp accounts for approximately 2.1% of Vista Investment Partners II LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 4.4% during the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP now owns 8,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. HCR Wealth Advisors now owns 20,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Priebe Wealth Holdings LLC now owns 5,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Savings Bank boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 12,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

USB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Compass Point boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.21.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of USB opened at $44.77 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $47.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $69.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.02. U.S. Bancorp has a one year low of $37.81 and a one year high of $53.98.

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

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 209,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,837,274.72. This represents a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 99,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,749,006.10. The trade was a 23.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 219,812 shares of company stock valued at $10,385,665 over the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.