Wells Fargo & Company Increases Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Price Target to $54.00

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) had its price objective lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Baird R W cut Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Argus lifted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.09.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Down 0.4 %

Fifth Third Bancorp stock opened at $46.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Fifth Third Bancorp has a twelve month low of $26.89 and a twelve month high of $48.10. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.48.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.58% and a net margin of 16.58%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.16%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 49.17%.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In related news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $327,525.00. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,724. This represents a 14.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 55.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 4,012 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 313,324 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,657,000 after buying an additional 26,194 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 18.9% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 12,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,693 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

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.