By Dave Sebastian

U.S. Bancorp. said its profit for the recent quarter rose as noninterest income increased and noninterest expense fell, offset by lower net interest income and higher provision for credit losses.

The company on Wednesday posted a fourth-quarter net profit of $1.52 billion, or 95 cents a share, compared with $1.49 billion, or 90 cents a share, in the same period last year. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 95 cents a share.

"The components of net income are being adversely impacted by the Covid-19 environment resulting in significantly lower interest rates and consumer and business spending activities as well as changes in credit quality," the company said.

Net interest income fell to $3.18 billion from $3.21 billion. Analysts were looking for $3.2 billion.

Provision for credit losses was $441 million, compared with $395 million in the same period last year.

Noninterest income rose to $2.55 billion from $2.44 billion. Noninterest expense fell to $3.36 billion from $3.4 billion.

Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

This article was corrected at 08:51 a.m. ET because the original incorrectly stated profit fell in the headline. U.S. Bancorp's profit rose for the fourth quarter.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-20-21 0719ET