Citigroup Upgrades U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) to “Buy”

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) was upgraded by Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $65.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $49.00. Citigroup’s price target suggests a potential upside of 23.83% from the company’s previous close.

USB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Stephens boosted 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.02.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

USB stock opened at $52.49 on Monday. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $36.49 and a fifty-two week high of $52.69. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $47.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.06. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $81.89 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.02.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in USB. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 401,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,348,000 after purchasing an additional 56,990 shares during the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $20,188,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 276,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,363,000 after buying an additional 16,686 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 564,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,231,000 after purchasing an additional 56,738 shares during the period. Finally, M&G Plc increased its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 73.9% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 314,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,570,000 after buying an additional 133,498 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.