Waterloo Capital L.P. Cuts Stake in Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB

Waterloo Capital L.P. reduced its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,124 shares during the quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $3,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.9% during the second quarter. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 6,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 11.9% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 1.5% during the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 18,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.9% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 4,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FITB. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Janney Montgomery Scott increased their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday, October 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.35.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, Director Evan Bayh acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $41.22 per share, for a total transaction of $123,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 84,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,501,309.24. The trade was a 3.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ FITB opened at $42.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12 month low of $32.25 and a 12 month high of $49.07. The stock has a market cap of $28.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.66, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.10.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 18.67% and a return on equity of 13.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 47.76%.

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.