Ballentine Partners LLC Raises Stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 756 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 13.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 46,596,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,733,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,512,333 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,757,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $356,031,000 after buying an additional 281,494 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,679,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,837,000 after buying an additional 399,827 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,434,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $165,015,000 after buying an additional 99,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,701,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,096,000 after buying an additional 56,298 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at $4,805,724. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

FITB opened at $43.22 on Friday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52-week low of $22.75 and a 52-week high of $45.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $29.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.35.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.05). Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 16.58% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. This is an increase from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 49.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FITB has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.28.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Fifth Third Bank, National Association that engages in the provision of a range of financial products and services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer and Small Business Banking, and Wealth and Asset Management.