Ballast Inc. Makes New Investment in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Ballast Inc. acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 6,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% in the third quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 35,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after buying an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 292.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,386,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,555,000 after buying an additional 1,032,866 shares in the last quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 62,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,707,000 after buying an additional 15,665 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 19.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,677,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $286,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 104.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 105,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,548,000 after purchasing an additional 53,653 shares in the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

USB opened at $44.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.84. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $27.27 and a twelve month high of $45.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $69.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.04.

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

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be given a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.76%.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other U.S. Bancorp news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,255,515.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,265 shares of company stock valued at $2,535,903 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Compass Point raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $46.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.41.

About U.S. Bancorp

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.