Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,568 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $9,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,428,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $492,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,653 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,860,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,413,000 after buying an additional 393,937 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 32.1% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,076,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $331,188,000 after acquiring an additional 3,176,903 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,774,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $171,600,000 after acquiring an additional 253,405 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,601,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,906,000 after purchasing an additional 281,557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FITB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $37.50 to $39.50 in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (down from $42.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total transaction of $971,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,407,751.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total value of $971,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,344 shares in the company, valued at $8,407,751.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $181,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 139,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,072,172.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,857 shares of company stock worth $1,787,638 over the last ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Fifth Third Bancorp stock opened at $37.56 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.76. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52 week low of $22.46 and a 52 week high of $37.77.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.70% and a return on equity of 16.11%. The firm had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

Fifth Third Bancorp Profile

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.