AlphaStar Capital Management LLC Makes New $671,000 Investment in U.S. Bancorp $USB

AlphaStar Capital Management LLC bought a new position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 14,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $671,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 141,230,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,962,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,393,383 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 19,907,665 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $773,268,000 after purchasing an additional 422,050 shares in the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,889,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $628,614,000 after purchasing an additional 513,875 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 12,679,104 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $535,312,000 after purchasing an additional 104,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,012,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $464,953,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on USB. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.50 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Monday, October 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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 $46.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.49. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $35.18 and a 52-week high of $53.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.06.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.11. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 16.89%.The business had revenue of $7.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 26,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Andrew Cecere sold 140,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.34, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

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.