Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Has $860,000 Stock Holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Free Report) by 41.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,836 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,596 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $860,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 4.7% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 48,116 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,910,000 after buying an additional 2,179 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $735,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.0% in the second quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 10,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 602 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC bought a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the second quarter worth $376,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 1.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 42,570 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,690,000 after buying an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $1,225,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 129,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. This represents a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 0.4 %

USB traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $51.10. The stock had a trading volume of 7,565,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,229,032. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $49.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $37.81 and a 52 week high of $53.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. U.S. Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.