Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 16,640 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 65% compared to the average daily volume of 10,087 call options.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 26,909 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.86, for a total value of $1,260,955.74. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 226,375 shares in the company, valued at $10,607,932.50. The trade was a 10.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Andrew Cecere sold 140,445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.34, for a total value of $6,508,221.30. Following the sale, the chairman 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $971,285,000. Davis Selected Advisers increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 29.8% during the second quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 19,331,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $874,757,000 after purchasing an additional 4,442,623 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1,589.4% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,472,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,119,000 after purchasing an additional 3,266,724 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 354.5% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,855,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,205,000 after buying an additional 2,227,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 143,269,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,482,935,000 after buying an additional 2,038,996 shares in the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of U.S. Bancorp stock traded up $0.66 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $54.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,732,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,061,479. The stock has a market cap of $84.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.42, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.10. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $35.18 and a 12-month high of $54.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.26.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 16.89% and a return on equity of 13.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on USB shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.95.

U.S. Bancorp Company 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.