Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc Makes New Investment in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Armstrong Fleming & Moore Inc bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 4,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 5,381.4% in the first quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 460,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,572,000 after purchasing an additional 451,825 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 106,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,749,000 after buying an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. purchased a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $251,000. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 273,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on USB. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.50 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.65.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of USB stock traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $49.96. The stock had a trading volume of 6,319,745 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,331,289. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $30.47 and a 12-month high of $50.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.58. The company has a market cap of $77.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 12.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.23%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.