Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Short Interest Update

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 20,000,000 shares, a decrease of 8.9% from the November 15th total of 21,960,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 4,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Fifth Third Bancorp stock traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.05. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,263,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,544,114. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.22. Fifth Third Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.29 and a fifty-two week high of $49.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total value of $327,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,913 shares in the company, valued at $2,441,720.71. This represents 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 this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fifth Third Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 89.5% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 56.9% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 860 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on FITB shares. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $45.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.81.

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.