Hourglass Capital LLC Sells 9,200 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Hourglass Capital LLC lessened its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 17.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,200 shares during the quarter. Hourglass Capital LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $1,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arjuna Capital bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $368,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $774,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $206,000. Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 78.3% during the third quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 4,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 1.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,731,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,184,000 after buying an additional 19,572 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FITB. Bank of America increased their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total value of $327,525.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,441,720.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $327,525.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,441,720.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at $4,805,724. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FITB opened at $47.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $31.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.68, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $25.94 and a 1-year high of $48.10.

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

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.17%.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

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.