Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Grows Position in Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 39.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 45,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,830 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $2,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FITB. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,276,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,788,000 after acquiring an additional 39,261 shares in the last quarter. Robinhood Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,529,000. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 33.2% in the first quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 85,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,985,000 after purchasing an additional 21,365 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,197,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $848,672,000 after purchasing an additional 96,656 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $1,514,000. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on FITB. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Zacks Research cut Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Stephens began coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, June 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.11.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 1.7%

NASDAQ FITB opened at $58.02 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $52.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.48. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $40.04 and a one year high of $58.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $52.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.90.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 12.39%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 53.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kevin J. Khanna sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total transaction of $304,620.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 76,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,873,700.23. This represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Peter L. Sefzik sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $1,009,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 189,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,556,215.72. The trade was a 9.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fifth Third Bancorp Profile

Fifth Third Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio–based bank holding company whose primary banking subsidiary operates as Fifth Third Bank. The company provides a broad range of financial services to individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its business mix includes retail and commercial banking, lending, payment and card services, treasury and cash management, and wealth management and investment advisory services delivered through a combination of branch locations, commercial offices and digital platforms.

On the consumer side, Fifth Third offers deposit accounts, consumer loans, mortgages, auto financing and credit card products, along with digital banking and mobile services.