Ethic Inc. Buys 56,636 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Ethic Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 141.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 96,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,636 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $4,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 821,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,194,000 after purchasing an additional 14,137 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 11,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 145,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,147,000 after buying an additional 7,501 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 10,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $414,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FITB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $53.00 price target (down previously from $54.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.24.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FITB stock opened at $37.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.88. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52-week low of $32.25 and a 52-week high of $49.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.89.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.10% and a net margin of 17.43%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.98%.

Insider Transactions at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other news, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 21,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.55, for a total transaction of $945,035.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 130,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,698,778.80. This trade represents a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO James C. Leonard sold 17,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.26, for a total transaction of $761,272.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 244,487 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,820,994.62. This trade represents a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.53% 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.