Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 3.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 69,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,411 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $2,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,343,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,012,472,000 after purchasing an additional 734,403 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 13.4% in 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 buying an additional 5,512,333 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,757,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $356,031,000 after buying an additional 281,494 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,434,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $165,015,000 after buying an additional 99,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 341.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,928,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,492,124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fifth Third Bancorp

In related news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,724. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $494,520.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares in the company, valued at approximately $863,802.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,805,724. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,500 shares of company stock worth $2,269,920. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FITB. Wolfe Research upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com cut Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fifth Third Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.16.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FITB opened at $42.84 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.22. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52-week low of $22.49 and a 52-week high of $43.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.04). Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 17.41%. The company had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.98%.

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.