Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab Reduces Position in U.S. Bancorp $USB

Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab trimmed its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 77.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 283,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 973,919 shares during the period. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $14,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 146,376,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,810,665,000 after acquiring an additional 1,828,404 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 69,701,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,755,083,000 after acquiring an additional 522,368 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,679,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,518,000 after acquiring an additional 443,646 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $1,887,497,000. Finally, Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 5,236.0% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 33,350,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,779,556,000 after purchasing an additional 32,725,000 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 0.9%

USB stock opened at $63.69 on Wednesday. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $43.46 and a fifty-two week high of $64.84. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $58.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $98.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.07. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.69% and a net margin of 18.49%.The company had revenue of $7.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 41.52%.

Key Stories Impacting U.S. Bancorp

Here are the key news stories impacting U.S. Bancorp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI upgraded U.S. Bancorp (USB) from in-line to outperform and set a $72 price target, pointing to meaningful upside from current levels. The Fly article
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised U.S. Bancorp (USB) from underweight to neutral and increased its price target to $67.50, citing growth in fee revenue. Benzinga article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted U.S. Bancorp as a strong dividend stock, which may be supporting investor interest in the name. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles compared USB’s year-to-date performance with other financial stocks, suggesting the stock has been performing solidly relative to peers, but these pieces were mostly informational rather than clearly market-moving. MSN article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Evercore upgraded U.S. Bancorp from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised U.S. Bancorp from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $67.50 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In other U.S. Bancorp news, EVP Venkatachari Dilip sold 34,522 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $1,916,661.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 51,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,847,731.84. This trade represents a 40.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Company Profile

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is a bank holding company and the parent of U.S. Bank, a national commercial bank that provides a wide range of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services. The company operates through consumer and business banking, commercial banking, payment services, and wealth management segments. Its product set includes deposit accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgage origination and servicing, credit and debit card services, treasury and cash management, merchant processing, and institutional and trust services.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.