U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Shares Acquired by Ellsworth Advisors LLC

Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the quarter. U.S. Bancorp makes up 1.4% of Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $4,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of USB. CGC Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in U.S. Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective 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. Finally, Odeon Capital Group raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.93 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.41.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 1.6 %

USB traded up $0.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.70. 7,595,162 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,901,534. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $27.27 and a 1 year high of $45.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.84. The firm has a market cap of $69.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.04.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $487,993.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,616.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $487,993.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,616.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.37, for a total transaction of $1,152,904.71. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 144,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,255,515.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 60,265 shares of company stock valued at $2,535,903. Company 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.