Vest Financial LLC Lowers Stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Vest Financial LLC lessened its position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 71.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 234,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 583,472 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $9,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FITB. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $219,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 8,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC boosted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC now owns 10,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 14,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 51,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on FITB shares. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fifth Third Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.00.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of FITB stock opened at $39.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.90. Fifth Third Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.25 and a fifty-two week high of $49.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.43% and a return on equity of 14.10%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 46.98%.

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.