Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Lowers Stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 36.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 34,832 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $2,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 61,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,110,000 after buying an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 57.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 737,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,551,000 after buying an additional 269,152 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 661,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,805,000 after buying an additional 69,273 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 350,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,102,000 after buying an additional 113,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,860,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,413,000 after buying an additional 393,937 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total transaction of $971,490.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Kala Gibson sold 14,857 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total transaction of $540,497.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,696,981.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total transaction of $971,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,407,751.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,357 shares of company stock valued at $1,693,888. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.31.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock opened at $37.23 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.10. The firm has a market cap of $25.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12-month low of $22.46 and a 12-month high of $37.41.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.70% and a return on equity of 16.11%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

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.