Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 905,243 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,469,747 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 905,243 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $256,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 674,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,565,000 after acquiring an additional 11,341 shares during the period. Vantus Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $480,000. Finally, Ellevest Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Ellevest Inc. now owns 8,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fifth Third Bancorp

In related news, EVP Peter L. Sefzik sold 20,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total value of $1,009,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 189,382 shares in the company, valued at $9,556,215.72. The trade was a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kevin J. Khanna sold 6,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total transaction of $304,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 76,299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,873,700.23. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $53.00 to $54.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $54.00 target price (down from $57.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.19.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 0.4%

FITB stock opened at $52.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.14 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.92. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $37.86 and a one year high of $55.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $49.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 12.39%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 53.69%.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio–based bank holding company whose primary banking subsidiary operates as Fifth Third Bank. The company provides a broad range of financial services to individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its business mix includes retail and commercial banking, lending, payment and card services, treasury and cash management, and wealth management and investment advisory services delivered through a combination of branch locations, commercial offices and digital platforms.

On the consumer side, Fifth Third offers deposit accounts, consumer loans, mortgages, auto financing and credit card products, along with digital banking and mobile services.