Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Trims Stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 25.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,093 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FITB. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 34.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,472,392 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $257,189,000. Smead Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $67,354,000. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 14,575,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $502,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,194 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 341.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,492,124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FITB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI dropped 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 note on Tuesday, June 25th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.15.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

FITB opened at $42.27 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $28.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.24. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52-week low of $22.49 and a 52-week high of $42.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.16.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.04). The company 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 20,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.77, for a total transaction of $835,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,087 shares in the company, valued at $5,224,883.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 2,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.50, for a total value of $93,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 136,922 shares in the company, valued at $5,134,575. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 20,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.77, for a total transaction of $835,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 125,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,224,883.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,000 shares of company stock worth $1,523,670. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.