Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,255,396 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 50,558 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.18% of Fifth Third Bancorp worth $43,299,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 61,168 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,110,000 after buying an additional 3,476 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 737,397 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $25,551,000 after buying an additional 269,152 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 661,215 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $22,805,000 after buying an additional 69,273 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 350,894 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,102,000 after acquiring an additional 113,838 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,860,365 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $376,413,000 after acquiring an additional 393,937 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on FITB. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $36.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.31.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:FITB traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.90. The company had a trading volume of 2,474,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,563,777. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.27. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $35.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.27. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12-month low of $22.46 and a 12-month high of $37.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.11% and a net margin of 17.70%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.2 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 Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. Fifth Third Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total transaction of $971,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total transaction of $971,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,344 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kala Gibson sold 14,857 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $540,497.66. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,646 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,696,981.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 46,357 shares of company stock worth $1,693,888. Company insiders own 0.50% 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.