Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB Shares Acquired by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 195.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,357 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $1,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FITB. Center for Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 501.9% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Monetary Solutions Ltd acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Peter L. Sefzik sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $1,009,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 189,382 shares in the company, valued at $9,556,215.72. This trade represents a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kevin J. Khanna sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total transaction of $304,620.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 76,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,700.23. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.11.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of FITB opened at $58.02 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $52.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.48. The stock has a market cap of $52.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12 month low of $40.04 and a 12 month high of $58.51.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 12.39%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Fifth Third Bancorp Company Profile

Fifth Third Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio–based bank holding company whose primary banking subsidiary operates as Fifth Third Bank. The company provides a broad range of financial services to individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its business mix includes retail and commercial banking, lending, payment and card services, treasury and cash management, and wealth management and investment advisory services delivered through a combination of branch locations, commercial offices and digital platforms.

On the consumer side, Fifth Third offers deposit accounts, consumer loans, mortgages, auto financing and credit card products, along with digital banking and mobile services.