Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Shares Bought by Millennium Management LLC

Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 896.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 648,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 583,781 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $23,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 734,403 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 13.4% in the 1st 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 grew 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 worth $356,031,000 after buying an additional 281,494 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% in the first 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, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 56,298 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FITB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Bank of America increased 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated 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, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.78.

Insider Transactions at Fifth Third Bancorp

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

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FITB opened at $41.74 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.54. The firm has a market cap of $28.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.22. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1 year low of $22.49 and a 1 year high of $43.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.