Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Receives “Neutral” Rating from Citigroup

Citigroup reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $31.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 15th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Barclays decreased their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $40.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 15th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. They set a market perform rating on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.50.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FITB opened at $27.13 on Monday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a twelve month low of $22.11 and a twelve month high of $38.06. The company’s 50 day moving average is $27.21 and its 200 day moving average is $26.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $18.47 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.21.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.01). Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 22.66%. The company had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Saturday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. This is an increase from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.50%.

Institutional Trading of Fifth Third Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 59,032,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,547,230,000 after acquiring an additional 262,637 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 43,179,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,150,315,000 after acquiring an additional 5,702,804 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 33,243,129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,090,707,000 after acquiring an additional 3,172,058 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,753,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $842,650,000 after acquiring an additional 709,615 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,184,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $396,994,000 after acquiring an additional 310,306 shares during the period. 77.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer and Small Business Banking, and Wealth and Asset Management. The company's Commercial Banking segment offers credit intermediation, cash management, and financial services; lending and depository products; and cash management, foreign exchange and international trade finance, derivatives and capital markets services, asset-based lending, real estate finance, public finance, commercial leasing, and syndicated finance for business, government, and professional customers.