HFG Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

HFG Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. HFG Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FITB. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $259,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $474,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the first quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,724. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,724. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total value of $494,520.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $863,802.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,169,920 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on FITB. Bank of America boosted their price objective on 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 raised their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.78.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ FITB traded up $0.36 on Thursday, hitting $45.34. 984,238 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,562,107. Fifth Third Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $22.49 and a fifty-two week high of $45.57. The company has a market cap of $31.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $41.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.98.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.04). Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.41% and a return on equity of 15.79%. The business had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase 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.