Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Purchases 757 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 7.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 757 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FITB. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 14,135,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $597,692,000 after buying an additional 823,803 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,046,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,535,000 after purchasing an additional 438,446 shares during the period. AMJ Financial Wealth Management grew its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. AMJ Financial Wealth Management now owns 232,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,843,000 after purchasing an additional 9,401 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $357,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 65,867 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,809,000 after acquiring an additional 15,023 shares during the period. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Baird R W raised Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird raised Fifth Third Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.53.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FITB stock opened at $38.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 17.65%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, June 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio 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.