Sit Investment Associates Inc. Buys 18,066 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Sit Investment Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 162,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,066 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $7,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FITB. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 161,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,189,000 after purchasing an additional 24,566 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,276,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,788,000 after purchasing an additional 39,261 shares during the last quarter. Robinhood Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,529,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,619,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,169,000 after purchasing an additional 340,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 27.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,947,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $175,850,000 after purchasing an additional 840,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on FITB shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Evercore raised their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $51.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.34.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FITB stock opened at $52.82 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.19. The company has a market cap of $47.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.92. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12-month low of $38.91 and a 12-month high of $55.44.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $2.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 12.39%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Kevin J. Khanna sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total value of $304,620.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 76,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,700.23. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

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.