Cerity Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Free Report) by 34.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 426,892 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 110,246 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $18,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CGC Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $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, Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 106,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,313,616.14. 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a "c+" rating to a "b-" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of U.S. Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI upped 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 note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $35.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $47.41.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of USB stock traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.58. 6,742,538 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,503,623. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $27.27 and a 52 week high of $45.85. The stock's 50-day moving average is $42.29 and its 200-day moving average is $39.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $64.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.05.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be issued a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. U.S. Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.76%.

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.