Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reiterates Market Perform Rating for Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $39.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price points to a potential upside of 7.93% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on FITB. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $34.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (down previously from $42.00) on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.31.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of FITB stock opened at $37.06 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.35 and its 200 day moving average is $32.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $25.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.27. Fifth Third Bancorp has a one year low of $22.46 and a one year high of $37.41.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.70% and a return on equity of 16.11%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kala Gibson sold 14,857 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.38, for a total transaction of $540,497.66. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 46,646 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,696,981.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,357 shares of company stock valued at $1,693,888 over the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FITB. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,083,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,416,985,000 after buying an additional 10,472,392 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $257,189,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 32.1% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 13,076,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $331,188,000 after purchasing an additional 3,176,903 shares in the last quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at $67,354,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

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.