Prospera Financial Services Inc Buys 15,908 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Free Report) by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,826 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 15,908 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc's holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $5,160,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davis Selected Advisers raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $564,869,000 after acquiring an additional 43,437 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,312,930 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $528,523,000 after acquiring an additional 94,841 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,376,977 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $491,364,000 after acquiring an additional 325,374 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,852,013 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $478,118,000 after acquiring an additional 373,559 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,962,394 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $276,407,000 after acquiring an additional 20,928 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp 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 sale, the insider now owns 129,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Stephens increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" 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, Evercore ISI increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.22.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of USB stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $50.74. The company had a trading volume of 8,066,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,353,047. The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.21 and a 200 day moving average of $43.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $79.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.02. U.S. Bancorp has a 1-year low of $36.49 and a 1-year high of $51.76.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

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

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. U.S. Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is 61.16%.

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.