U.S. Bancorp is one of the largest diversified financial services firms in the United States. Services include consumer and commercial lending and depository services, cash management, trust, and investment management services. The company also engages in credit and debit card services, merchant processing, mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage, and leasing.

Insider sentiment has improved over the past several weeks, with multiple indicators providing relatively positive results as compared to their recent readings. The overall Insider Index from Vickers Stock Research, which had steadily deteriorated from late 2023 through mid-2024, has now logged multiple weeks of improvement, coming in at -17.55 this week versus -18.55 in the prior week, -19.57 in the week before, and a low of -20.98 in early August. While this is still far from the reading of -7.79 recorded in November 2023 (as the market began a notable rally), it still signals an apparent changing mindset from insiders. Meanwhile, Vickers' Total One-Week Sell/Buy Ratio has improved to 2.86 from last week's reading of 4.62, while the Total eight-week reading has improved to 4.02 from the prior week's 4.49. This signals an increase in buying activity among insiders as compared to selling activity. With the start of earnings season now less than one month away, we will be watching to see if this trend continues in the weeks before insiders are again heavily restricted from trading their stocks. On a sector basis, there was notable insider buying in the Energy sector, with shares valued at $66 million bought versus just $3 million sold. On the flipside, selling by insiders last week was greatest in Information Technology, with shares valued at $846 million sold versus just under $10 million bought. Selling was also of note in Consumer Staples, Financial, Consumer Discretionary, and Communication Services. This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at T-Mobile US Inc. (NGS: TMUS) and PBF Energy Inc. (NYSE: PBF).

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.