Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) in a research report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $36.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on FITB. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $41.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird restated a neutral rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One research 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $36.31.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FITB opened at $37.23 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.10. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $22.46 and a 1-year high of $37.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $25.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.27.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.11% and a net margin of 17.70%. The company had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.66, for a total value of $971,490.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,344 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,407,751.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Kala Gibson sold 14,857 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,696,981.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO James C. Leonard sold 26,500 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 229,344 shares in the company, valued at $8,407,751.04. 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 three months. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $29,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 145.5% during the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 1,000.0% during the fourth quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. 83.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.