Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $171,000 Stock Position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 25.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 958 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,083,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,985,000 after acquiring an additional 10,472,392 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 341.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,928,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,521,000 after purchasing an additional 1,492,124 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $33,337,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,343,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,012,472,000 after buying an additional 734,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,641,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on FITB shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Argus raised their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.16.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at $4,805,724. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,724. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total value of $494,520.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $863,802.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 54,500 shares of company stock worth $2,269,920 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FITB opened at $43.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.16. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $22.49 and a 1-year high of $43.85. The firm has a market cap of $29.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.22.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.41% and a return on equity of 15.79%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. This is an increase from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.