Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,565 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $1,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $371,836,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4,128.0% in the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,860,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816,320 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $53,508,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,971,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.2% during 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 last quarter. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FITB. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.64.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FITB stock opened at $38.81 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $42.18 and its 200 day moving average is $43.53. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $33.82 and a 1-year high of $49.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $25.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.36, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.21.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO James C. Leonard sold 17,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.26, for a total transaction of $761,272.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 244,487 shares in the company, valued at $10,820,994.62. The trade was a 6.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 21,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.55, for a total value of $945,035.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 130,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,698,778.80. This trade represents a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fifth Third Bancorp Company 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.