U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 18,840,000 shares, a drop of 19.7% from the March 31st total of 23,450,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,540,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other U.S. Bancorp news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total value of $895,005.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total value of $895,005.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,837,573.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.37, for a total value of $1,152,904.71. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 144,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,255,515.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in USB. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,717,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,753,000 after purchasing an additional 12,548 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 119,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,331,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504 shares in the last quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 29.1% during the 1st quarter. Silicon Valley Capital Partners now owns 188,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,408,000 after purchasing an additional 42,368 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 10.6% in the first quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 11,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $471,000 after buying an additional 1,097 shares during the period. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 56.8% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after buying an additional 10,101 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group cut their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down from $52.00) on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.14.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:USB traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $41.30. The stock had a trading volume of 4,648,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,657,484. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.28. U.S. Bancorp has a 1-year low of $27.27 and a 1-year high of $45.85. The company has a market capitalization of $64.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.01. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.93% and a net margin of 12.13%. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.90%.

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.