Merit Financial Group LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Merit Financial Group LLC lessened its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,481 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FITB. 9258 Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 8,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 177,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,112,000 after acquiring an additional 6,684 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,708,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FITB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $39.00 price target (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.50.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FITB opened at $38.03 on Wednesday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12-month low of $22.49 and a 12-month high of $38.28. The company has a market cap of $25.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.95.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.11% and a net margin of 17.70%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fifth Third Bancorp

In related news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total value of $971,490.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,344 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,407,751.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total value of $181,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 139,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,072,172.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total transaction of $971,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,407,751.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,857 shares of company stock worth $1,787,638. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.