Wesbanco Bank Inc. Grows Stock Position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 40.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 123,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,528 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $4,827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FITB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $371,836,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4,128.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,860,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,654,000 after buying an additional 1,816,320 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,508,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4,271.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,203,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,172,000 after buying an additional 1,175,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 9,531,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $402,991,000 after buying an additional 1,027,044 shares during the last quarter. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FITB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cowen started coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.00.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of FITB stock opened at $39.41 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.65 and a 200 day moving average of $40.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap 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 twelve month low of $32.25 and a twelve month high of $49.07.

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

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.