It's dividend time at U.S. Bancorp (USB +2.50%). The company announced a raft of dividends for the numerous classes of its stock. As for the common shares held by most of its investors, the bank's board of directors has declared a fresh quarterly payout of $0.42 per share.
This is to be dispensed on Oct. 15 to investors of record as of Sept. 30. At U.S. Bancorp's most recent closing stock price, it would yield 4.5%. That's well above the rates typical not only for banks, but also for the wider universe of the market's dividend stocks.
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The company, a sprawling commercial banking group, has been a reliable dividend payer for years. That payout has risen steadily since the aftermath of the late-2000s financial crisis, when the bank sliced its dividend from nearly $0.43 per share to $0.05. Since then, however, the company has tended to add to it more or less once every year, steadily increasing it to the present level.
U.S. Bancorp is keeping its dividend steady despite the current economic environment, which is not conducive to banks. Most lenders are dramatically increasing their loan-loss provisions, in anticipation of a significant increase in borrower defaults and postponements. This bank is no different -- in its most recently reported quarter, it bolstered its provisioning by $1.3 billion to land at over $1.7 billion; its net profit was affected commensurately.
On Tuesday, however, U.S. Bancorp stock traded down by almost 1.5%, in contrast to the rise of the wider equities market.
