Verus Capital Partners LLC Decreases Position in Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Verus Capital Partners LLC lowered its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 47.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,122 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $334,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $113,900,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,908,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $898,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,321,554 shares in the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the first quarter worth $40,989,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,736,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $695,265,000 after purchasing an additional 862,374 shares during the period. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 0.5%

FITB opened at $43.21 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.56 billion, a PE ratio of 12.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52 week low of $32.25 and a 52 week high of $49.07.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 18.67% and a return on equity of 13.41%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.76%.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, Director Evan Bayh purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $41.22 per share, with a total value of $123,660.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 84,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,501,309.24. The trade was a 3.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on FITB shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Janney Montgomery Scott upped their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.35.

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.