US Bancorp October 3rd Options Trading Begins

US Bancorp (USB) options for October 3rd began trading, with the put contract at $44.00 strike price having a current bid of 51 cents. Selling-to-open this put contract would put the cost basis of shares at $43.49, representing a 5% discount to the current trading price. With the odds of the contract expiring worthless at 66%, the premium would represent a 1.16% return on the cash commitment.

Investors in US Bancorp (USB) saw new options begin trading today, for the October 3rd expiration. Among the new contracts, the put contract at the $44.00 strike price has garnered particular attention. This contract currently has a bid of 51 cents. If an investor were to sell-to-open this put contract, they would be committing to purchase the stock at $44.00, but would also collect the premium, effectively lowering the cost basis of the shares to $43.49 (before broker commissions). This represents a 5% discount to the current trading price of the stock, making it an attractive alternative for those interested in purchasing shares of USB.

Given that the $44.00 strike represents an approximate 5% discount to the current trading price, there is also the possibility that the put contract would expire worthless. Analytical data suggests that the current odds of this happening are 66%. Stock Options Channel will continue to track these odds over time, publishing updates on their website [1].

The implied volatility in the put contract example is 43%, while the actual trailing twelve month volatility is calculated to be 29%. For more put and call options contract ideas worth looking at, visit StockOptionsChannel.com [1].

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. recently increased its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 22.1%, owning 52,090 shares valued at approximately $2.2 million after purchasing an additional 9,417 shares in the first quarter [2]. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $2.00 and a yield of 4.3%. Several other institutional investors have also increased their positions in U.S. Bancorp, including Wesbanco Bank Inc., Crestwood Advisors Group LLC, Becker Capital Management Inc., United Community Bank, and Asset Management One Co. Ltd. [2].

Analysts have provided mixed ratings for U.S. Bancorp. TD Cowen and Wall Street Zen upgraded their ratings to "buy" and "hold," respectively, while Truist Financial boosted their price objective to $50.00 with a "hold" rating. The consensus rating among analysts is a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $52.55 [2].

U.S. Bancorp's latest quarterly earnings results, released on July 17th, saw the company report $1.11 EPS, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07. The company's revenue for the quarter was $7.06 billion, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. U.S. Bancorp's net margin was 16.30% and its return on equity was 13.08% [2].

References:
[1] https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/usb-october-3rd-options-begin-trading
[2] https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/filing-northwest-ethical-investments-lp-grows-position-in-us-bancorp-usb-2025-08-19/