Woodward Diversified Capital LLC Cuts Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Free Report) by 47.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,803 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,256 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC's holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in USB. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 16,672 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $112,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 217,414 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $10,399,000 after purchasing an additional 10,919 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,493,671 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $167,102,000 after purchasing an additional 32,244 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 289.4% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 4,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 3,615 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

USB stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $47.52. The stock had a trading volume of 6,180,126 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,531,829. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $37.81 and a 52 week high of $53.98. The stock's 50 day moving average is $48.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The firm has a market cap of $74.13 billion, a PE ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.04.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. U.S. Bancorp's revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. U.S. Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.77%.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, CEO Andrew Cecere sold 102,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.25, for a total transaction of $4,821,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,230,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,132,431. This trade represents a 7.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total value of $3,114,246.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 209,482 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,837,274.72. This represents a 24.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 219,812 shares of company stock valued at $10,385,665 over the last quarter. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on USB. Oppenheimer upped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. DA Davidson raised U.S. Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial assumed coverage on U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $54.00 target price on the stock. Compass Point increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.21.

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.