Is U.S. Bancorp (USB) a Good Stock To Buy?

Due to the fact that U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) has experienced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there was a specific group of hedgies who sold off their full holdings during the third quarter. Intriguingly, Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management sold off the largest position of all the hedgies watched by Insider Monkey, comprising close to $458.1 million in stock. Lou Simpson’s fund, SQ Advisors, also dumped its stock, about $62.4 million worth.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) but similarly valued. These stocks are Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), BHP Billiton plc (ADR) (NYSE:BBL), and Simon Property Group, Inc (NYSE:SPG). This group of stocks’ market caps match USB’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 36 funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.40 billion. That figure was $4.63 billion in USB’s case. Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) is the most popular stock in this table with 54 funds holding shares. On the other hand, BHP Billiton plc (ADR) (NYSE:BBL) is the least popular one with only 18 bullish hedge fund positions. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) is not the most popular stock in this group, but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard, Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) might be a better candidate to consider a long position.