HFG Advisors Inc. Cuts Position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

HFG Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 6.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. HFG Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FITB. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $259,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $474,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 28.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FITB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.78.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Fifth Third Bancorp stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $45.34. 984,238 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,562,107. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $22.49 and a one year high of $45.57. The company has a market cap of $31.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 17.41%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 46.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.77, for a total transaction of $835,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,224,883.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Kevin P. Lavender sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.77, for a total transaction of $835,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 125,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,224,883.99. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total value of $494,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares in the company, valued at $863,802.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 52,000 shares of company stock worth $2,169,920. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.