Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Earns “Market Perform” Rating from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their market perform rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) in a report issued on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $40.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $39.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Stephens reissued an equal weight rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $39.00 price target (down from $42.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fifth Third Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $36.31.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

FITB stock opened at $37.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52 week low of $22.46 and a 52 week high of $37.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $35.42 and its 200 day moving average is $32.10. The firm has a market cap of $25.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.27.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.05. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.70% and a return on equity of 16.11%. The company had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Insider Transactions at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total value of $971,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,344 shares in the company, valued at $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total value of $971,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,407,751.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kala Gibson sold 14,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total transaction of $540,497.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,696,981.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,357 shares of company stock worth $1,693,888 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the first quarter worth $29,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 145.5% in the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 1,000.0% in the fourth quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

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.