Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) PT Raised to $51.00 at Morgan Stanley

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 21.83% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on FITB. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $41.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.41.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ FITB opened at $41.86 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $28.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Fifth Third Bancorp has a twelve month low of $22.49 and a twelve month high of $43.85. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.49.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $3.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.11 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.79% and a net margin of 17.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $840,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 114,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,805,724. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total transaction of $494,520.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $863,802.81. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total transaction of $840,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 114,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,805,724. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,500 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,920. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FITB. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 34.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,472,392 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,337,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 87,343,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,012,472,000 after buying an additional 734,403 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 896.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 648,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,678,000 after acquiring an additional 583,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp during the first quarter worth $19,401,000. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by 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.