Meritage Portfolio Management Has $5.30 Million Stock Position in Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Meritage Portfolio Management lowered its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 1.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 128,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,832 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $5,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 20,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $850,000 after buying an additional 1,059 shares in the last quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 1.2% during the second quarter. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE now owns 315,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,990,000 after buying an additional 3,657 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.7% during the second quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management now owns 31,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,306,000 after buying an additional 1,716 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the second quarter worth $1,345,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 14.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 111,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,580,000 after buying an additional 14,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Down 5.3%

Shares of NASDAQ FITB opened at $41.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $27.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.95. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12 month low of $32.25 and a 12 month high of $49.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.72.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 49.69%.

Fifth Third Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FITB. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.20.

Fifth Third Bancorp Profile

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.