Moody National Bank Trust Division Sells 1,074 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Moody National Bank Trust Division lowered its position in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,074 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,774,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $889,978,000 after purchasing an additional 732,651 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,757,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $356,031,000 after purchasing an additional 281,494 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,679,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,837,000 after buying an additional 399,827 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,476,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $242,713,000 after buying an additional 409,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.5% in the third quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,224,047 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,278,000 after buying an additional 75,024 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $2,441,720.71. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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. Baird R W lowered shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.92.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Fifth Third Bancorp stock opened at $42.89 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.75. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $32.29 and a one year high of $49.07. The company has a market capitalization of $28.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 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.