Clearbridge Investments LLC Boosts Position in Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 719.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,012,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,644,332 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.46% of Fifth Third Bancorp worth $140,993,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FITB. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 619.6% in the fourth quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 77.6% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. 83.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FITB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research cut Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings raised Fifth Third Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.19.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ FITB opened at $52.01 on Monday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12 month low of $37.86 and a 12 month high of $55.44. The stock has a market cap of $47.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $49.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 53.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Peter L. Sefzik sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $1,009,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 189,382 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kevin J. Khanna sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total value of $304,620.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 76,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,873,700.23. This represents a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.