Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $47.78 and last traded at $47.69, with a volume of 44199 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $47.17.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FITB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.28.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.19. 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 company has a market capitalization of $31.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.21.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 16.58% and a return on equity of 14.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at $4,805,724. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at $4,805,724. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kristine R. Garrett sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.67, for a total transaction of $327,525.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 55,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,441,720.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FITB. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 13.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 46,596,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,733,847,000 after acquiring an additional 5,512,333 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the second quarter worth about $33,337,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $889,978,000 after buying an additional 732,651 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 896.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 648,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,678,000 after buying an additional 583,781 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,629,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,632,000 after purchasing an additional 442,121 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.