Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Raises Position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 755,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 94,369 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned about 0.11% of Fifth Third Bancorp worth $27,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Morningstar Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $2,257,000. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 88,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,056,000 after purchasing an additional 21,251 shares during the period. Park National Corp OH boosted its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 41,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 5,411 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 291,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,043,000 after purchasing an additional 21,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,080,000. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FITB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other news, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,805,724. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $494,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,500 shares of company stock worth $2,269,920. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ FITB opened at $42.84 on Tuesday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a twelve month low of $22.49 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $41.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $29.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.22.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.04). Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.41% and a return on equity of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. 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.