Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Reduces Position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 71,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,619 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $2,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FITB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 734,403 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 46,596,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,733,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,512,333 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 14,575,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $502,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,194 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,247,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $318,979,000 after purchasing an additional 393,489 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $257,189,000. 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 reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.50, for a total transaction of $93,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 136,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,134,575. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was 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 $863,802.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.50, for a total value of $93,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 136,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,134,575. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,523,670 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Down 0.2 %

FITB opened at $41.91 on Tuesday. 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 has a 52 week low of $22.49 and a 52 week high of $42.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $37.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.22. The firm has a market cap of $28.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

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.