Evan Bayh Acquires 3,000 Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Stock

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Director Evan Bayh bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $41.22 per share, with a total value of $123,660.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 84,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,501,309.24. The trade was a 3.66% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

FITB stock opened at $42.07 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $27.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.95. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52-week low of $32.25 and a 52-week high of $49.07.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.06. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.41% and a net margin of 18.67%.The company had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 47.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FITB shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Stephens set a $52.00 price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.45.

Institutional Trading of Fifth Third Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FITB. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,203,000 after buying an additional 3,170 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 88,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,480,000 after buying an additional 2,925 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 75,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,950,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 17,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $668,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 276,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,825,000 after buying an additional 10,515 shares during the last quarter. 83.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.