U.S. Bancorp Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:USB)

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 40,853 put options on the company. This is an increase of 178% compared to the average daily volume of 14,691 put options.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $487,993.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,313,616.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $487,993.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,313,616.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 26,583 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.37, for a total value of $1,152,904.71. Following the sale, 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. Insiders sold 60,265 shares of company stock valued at $2,535,903 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of USB. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 130,768.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,273,882 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,628,544,000 after acquiring an additional 60,227,825 shares during the last quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 54.1% in the third quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. now owns 68,374,155 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,260,450,000 after acquiring an additional 24,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $827,370,000. Aristotle Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 266.6% in the third quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,467,699 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $775,842,000 after acquiring an additional 17,066,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $414,174,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company's stock.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of U.S. Bancorp stock traded down $1.48 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.52. The stock had a trading volume of 13,999,082 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,783,099. The company has a market capitalization of $61.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.72. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $27.27 and a 52 week high of $45.85. 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 (NYSE:USB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.89% and a net margin of 13.36%. 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 company posted $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were given a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. U.S. Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

USB has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Compass Point raised U.S. Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet raised U.S. Bancorp from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $47.41.

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.