Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $43.00 to $52.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp traded as high as $48.50 and last traded at $48.50, with a volume of 1770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.90.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on FITB. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $43.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $327,525.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 55,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,441,720.71. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,774,462 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $889,978,000 after buying an additional 732,651 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,757,854 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $356,031,000 after acquiring an additional 281,494 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,679,671 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $371,837,000 after acquiring an additional 399,827 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,224,047 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $95,278,000 after acquiring an additional 75,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 1,737,866 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $74,450,000 after purchasing an additional 158,067 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company's stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $32.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.21.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. This is a positive change from Fifth Third Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Fifth Third Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.17%.

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.