Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Grows Stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 0.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 142,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $5,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 28.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 300,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,613,000 after purchasing an additional 66,255 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 61.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 509,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,896,000 after acquiring an additional 192,974 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 56.0% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 9,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 3,507 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 83.0% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 695 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 65.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,300,000 after buying an additional 26,408 shares during the last quarter. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 134,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,376,880. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FITB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, May 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.15.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FITB traded up $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.24. The stock had a trading volume of 2,399,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,882,222. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $22.49 and a one year high of $41.59. The company has a market capitalization of $28.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.24.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.04). Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 17.41%. The business had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

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.