Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. increased its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,161,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,730 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $91,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,586,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $912,692,000 after purchasing an additional 812,385 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,959,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $715,219,000 after acquiring an additional 285,910 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 14,135,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $597,692,000 after purchasing an additional 823,803 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 9,531,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $402,991,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $371,836,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FITB has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.24.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of FITB stock opened at $36.71 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.98. Fifth Third Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.25 and a fifty-two week high of $49.07. The stock has a market cap of $24.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.89.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.43% and a return on equity of 14.10%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 46.98%.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other news, COO James C. Leonard sold 17,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 244,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,820,994.62. The trade was a 6.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 21,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.55, for a total value of $945,035.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 130,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,698,778.80. The trade was a 14.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

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.