Northern Financial Advisors Inc Buys New Holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Northern Financial Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Mosaic Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $832,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 49,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,131,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Perkins Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Perkins Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 6,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 16,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on USB. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com downgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $45.00 price target (down from $52.00) on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Compass Point raised U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.02.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 value of $895,005.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,880 shares in the company, valued at $6,837,573.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 0.6 %

USB stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.35. The company had a trading volume of 3,982,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,494,210. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $28.53 and a 52 week high of $45.85. The stock has a market cap of $64.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.64.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.71 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.13% and a return on equity of 13.93%. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a $0.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.74%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is 64.90%.

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.