Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $4.88 Million Stock Position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 141,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 878 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $4,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 32.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,076,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $331,188,000 after purchasing an additional 3,176,903 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $67,354,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,428,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,653 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 66.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,307,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,437,000 after purchasing an additional 917,549 shares during the period. Finally, Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the third quarter worth $12,625,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:FITB opened at $36.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.54 and a 200-day moving average of $32.22. The company has a market cap of $25.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.71, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $22.46 and a one year high of $37.41.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.70% and a return on equity of 16.11%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FITB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 22nd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $181,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 139,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,072,172.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $181,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 139,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,072,172.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kala Gibson sold 14,857 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total transaction of $540,497.66. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,696,981.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,357 shares of company stock valued at $1,693,888. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.