Sapient Capital LLC Acquires 281,458 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Sapient Capital LLC raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) by 1,334.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 302,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 281,458 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp were worth $12,904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FITB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,774,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $889,978,000 after acquiring an additional 732,651 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 399,827 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,476,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $242,713,000 after purchasing an additional 409,292 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.5% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 10.0% during the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 1,737,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,450,000 after buying an additional 158,067 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 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. StockNews.com cut Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.75.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of FITB opened at $43.33 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.46. The stock has a market cap of $29.05 billion, a PE ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.23. Fifth Third Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.29 and a fifty-two week high of $49.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 47.13%.

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.