Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Given Buy Rating at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reiterated their buy rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $58.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Evercore decreased their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $57.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Monday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $67.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.56.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FITB opened at $50.98 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market cap of $46.17 billion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.91. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12-month low of $32.79 and a 12-month high of $55.44.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.87. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 12.39%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

Institutional Trading of Fifth Third Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,948,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,929,647,000 after acquiring an additional 637,207 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,548,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,664,013,000 after purchasing an additional 10,444,799 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 32,549,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,437,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,484,021,000 after purchasing an additional 101,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,939,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,120,586,000 after purchasing an additional 530,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Company Profile

Fifth Third Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio–based bank holding company whose primary banking subsidiary operates as Fifth Third Bank. The company provides a broad range of financial services to individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its business mix includes retail and commercial banking, lending, payment and card services, treasury and cash management, and wealth management and investment advisory services delivered through a combination of branch locations, commercial offices and digital platforms.

On the consumer side, Fifth Third offers deposit accounts, consumer loans, mortgages, auto financing and credit card products, along with digital banking and mobile services.