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

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $36.00 to $40.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp traded as high as $41.54 and last traded at $41.40, with a volume of 298987 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.86.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on FITB. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $37.50 to $39.50 in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.15.

Insider Transactions at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $100,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 134,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,376,880. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FITB. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 300,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,613,000 after buying an additional 66,255 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 56.0% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 9,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 3,507 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 65.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,300,000 after purchasing an additional 26,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $233,000. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.24.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.04). Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.41% and a return on equity of 15.79%. The business had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

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.