Stock Repurchase Program Declared by Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Board of Directors

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, June 16th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FITB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $49.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fifth Third Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.53.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:FITB opened at $38.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.90. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52-week low of $32.25 and a 52-week high of $49.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $37.24 and a 200 day moving average of $40.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.03. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 17.65%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.98%.

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.