Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Price Target Raised to $40.00 at Evercore ISI

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) had its price objective increased by Evercore ISI from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 note on Monday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, December 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $35.72.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FITB opened at $37.21 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1 year low of $22.46 and a 1 year high of $37.41.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 18.58% and a return on equity of 16.25%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 (DPR) is presently 43.34%.

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 on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total transaction of $971,490.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 229,344 shares in the company, valued at $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $8,407,751.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 139,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,072,172.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,343,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,012,472,000 after buying an additional 734,403 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.4% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 59,032,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,547,230,000 after purchasing an additional 262,637 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 34.2% during the fourth 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. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,753,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $842,650,000 after purchasing an additional 709,615 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $492,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500,653 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Company Profile

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.