Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 19,572 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,731,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,572 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $74,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 46,596,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,733,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,512,333 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the second quarter worth $33,337,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 896.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 648,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,678,000 after buying an additional 583,781 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 38.7% in the 2nd quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 1,433,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,323,000 after acquiring an additional 399,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,679,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,837,000 after acquiring an additional 399,827 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FITB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Baird R W lowered shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.28.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total value of $327,525.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $2,441,720.71. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,805,724. This trade represents a 14.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ FITB opened at $47.26 on Friday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $26.63 and a one year high of $48.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.05). Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 16.58% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 49.17%.

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.