Busey Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Busey Bank grew its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 143.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,230 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $1,124,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $649,264,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,548,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,664,013,000 after purchasing an additional 10,444,799 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 719.2% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,012,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $140,993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,644,332 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 23,799,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,114,046,000 after purchasing an additional 2,574,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 16.7% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,037,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $714,457,000 after purchasing an additional 2,293,939 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FITB. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Evercore set a $60.00 price target on Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $54.50 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.81.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of FITB stock opened at $57.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business’s 50 day moving average is $51.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.96. Fifth Third Bancorp has a twelve month low of $40.04 and a twelve month high of $58.15.

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

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other news, EVP Peter L. Sefzik sold 20,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total value of $1,009,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 189,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,556,215.72. The trade was 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kevin J. Khanna sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total transaction of $304,620.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 76,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 company 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.