Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading 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 trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $47.90.

FITB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Baird R W downgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $32.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.86.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.05). Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.58% and a net margin of 16.58%. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is an increase from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 49.17%.

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.