Argus Upgrades Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) to Strong-Buy

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) was upgraded by analysts at Argus to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, May 10th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $54.00 price objective (down from $57.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Zacks Research lowered Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.20.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Fifth Third Bancorp stock opened at $57.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Fifth Third Bancorp has a twelve month low of $40.04 and a twelve month high of $59.50. The company has a market capitalization of $51.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.90.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 45.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Peter L. Sefzik sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total transaction of $1,009,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 189,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,556,215.72. This represents a 9.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.51% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FITB. Center for Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the first quarter worth $25,000. SouthState Bank Corp increased its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 74.7% during the 1st quarter. SouthState Bank Corp now owns 552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Monetary Solutions Ltd bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 83.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

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.