Short Interest in Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Declines By 7.9%

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,410,000 shares, a decrease of 7.9% from the August 15th total of 22,150,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Insider Activity at Fifth Third Bancorp

In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, EVP Jude Schramm sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were 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 $4,805,724. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Fifth Third Bancorp news, Director Mitchell Stuart Feiger sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.21, for a total value of $494,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $863,802.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,500 shares of company stock worth $2,269,920. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 19,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $679,000 after purchasing an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $206,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance bought a new position in Fifth Third Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $264,000. 83.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FITB has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.16.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Fifth Third Bancorp stock opened at $42.62 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.05. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52 week low of $22.49 and a 52 week high of $43.37. The stock has a market cap of $29.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.93 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 (NASDAQ:FITB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.85 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $3.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm posted $0.87 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. This is a boost from Fifth Third Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.98%.

Fifth Third Bancorp Company Profile

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.