Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 19,572 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,731,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,572 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.26% of Fifth Third Bancorp worth $74,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 13.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 46,596,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,733,847,000 after purchasing an additional 5,512,333 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,757,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $356,031,000 after buying an additional 281,494 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,679,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,837,000 after acquiring an additional 399,827 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,701,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,096,000 after acquiring an additional 56,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,493,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,486,000 after acquiring an additional 169,823 shares in the last quarter. 83.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $327,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 55,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,441,720.71. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,724. This trade represents a 14.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Baird R W cut shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.28.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FITB opened at $47.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.38 and its 200-day moving average is $40.24. Fifth Third Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $26.63 and a fifty-two week high of $48.10.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.05). Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.58% and a net margin of 16.58%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 49.17%.

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.