Is U.S. Bancorp (USB) a Smart Long-Term Buy?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Dividend Strategy” fourth quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Dividend Strategy outperformed its S&P 500 Index benchmark during the fourth quarter. On an absolute basis, the Strategy had gains in 10 of 11 sectors in which it was invested for the quarter. The main contributors to Strategy performance were the IT, health care, and materials sectors. The communication services sector, meanwhile, was the sole detractor. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

ClearBridge Investments Dividend Strategy, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1929, U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based bank holding company with a $78.0 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Andrew Cecere. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) delivered a -6.39% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are down by -7.40%. The stock closed at $52.58 per share on April 07, 2022.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments Dividend Strategy has to say about U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Over the last year, we have repositioned our portfolio to navigate the course we see ahead. We have increased our exposure to interest-rate sensitive banks by adding to existing positions in U.S. Bancorp.”

Photo by Viacheslav Bublyk on Unsplash

Our calculations show that U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) was in 46 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 42 funds in the previous quarter. U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) delivered a -12.44% return in the past 3 months.

In March 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.