Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $43.00 to $52.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp traded as high as $48.50 and last traded at $48.50, with a volume of 1770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.90.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on FITB. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fifth Third Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.62.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $327,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,441,720.71. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 worth $889,978,000 after purchasing an additional 732,651 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 281,494 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,679,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,837,000 after buying an additional 399,827 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $95,278,000 after acquiring an additional 75,024 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 1,737,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,450,000 after acquiring an additional 158,067 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $32.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.09, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.80.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.37 dividend. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio 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.