Fifth Third Bancorp’s (FITB) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $36.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on FITB. UBS Group reissued a neutral rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (down from $42.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Robert W. Baird reissued a neutral rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a market perform rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $36.31.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 0.5 %

FITB opened at $37.23 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $22.46 and a 1-year high of $37.41. The company has a market capitalization of $25.36 billion, a PE ratio of 11.82, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.10.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.08 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.70% and a return on equity of 16.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 5,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total transaction of $181,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 139,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,072,172.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 5,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total transaction of $181,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 139,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,072,172.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kala Gibson sold 14,857 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total transaction of $540,497.66. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 46,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,696,981.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,357 shares of company stock worth $1,693,888. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FITB. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 34.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,083,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,985,000 after purchasing an additional 10,472,392 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $257,189,000. Boston Partners raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 32.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,076,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $331,188,000 after acquiring an additional 3,176,903 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $67,354,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,428,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $492,117,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500,653 shares during the period. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.