Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 12,905 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 818,564 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,905 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Fifth Third Bancorp worth $32,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FITB. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 205.8% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 12,617 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 8,491 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 44,491 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,318 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,416,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,971,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FITB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, DA Davidson raised Fifth Third Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $42.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.53.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FITB stock traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.76. The company had a trading volume of 4,001,802 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,574,943. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12 month low of $32.25 and a 12 month high of $49.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.91. The firm's fifty day moving average is $39.47 and its 200 day moving average is $40.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 17.65%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 46.98%.

Fifth Third Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, June 16th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.