Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Upgraded at Evercore

Evercore upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $60.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Fifth Third Bancorp from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Argus upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stephens reduced their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $63.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.77.

Fifth Third Bancorp Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of FITB opened at $53.05 on Wednesday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $40.68 and a 1-year high of $59.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $52.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.97.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.27. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 15.89% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Fifth Third Bancorp’s revenue was up 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.10 EPS for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.53%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fifth Third Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norris Perne & French LLP MI bought a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $554,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $632,000 after buying an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 19.8% during the third quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 8,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,000 after buying an additional 1,414 shares during the last quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $232,000. Institutional investors own 83.79% of the company’s stock.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its principal subsidiary, Fifth Third Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, government entities and institutional clients.

The company’s offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgages, credit and debit cards, treasury management, cash management and payment-processing services. Through its wealth and asset management businesses, Fifth Third also provides investment management, brokerage, trust, private banking and financial planning services.

Fifth Third primarily serves customers across the Midwest and Southeast, with a branch and banking-center network spanning states including Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.