Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Short Interest Up 9.7% in June

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jul 22nd, 2023

Fifth Third Bancorp logo Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 9,850,000 shares, a growth of 9.7% from the June 15th total of 8,980,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,810,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Evan Bayh purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.82 per share, for a total transaction of $124,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 73,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,829,234. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fifth Third Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Morningstar Investment Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 22,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $759,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. WealthTrust Axiom LLC now owns 76,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,501,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.14% of the company’s stock.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FITB opened at $28.23 on Friday. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12-month low of $22.11 and a 12-month high of $38.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.22 billion, a PE ratio of 8.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $26.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.29.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.01). Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.28% and a net margin of 24.39%. The business had revenue of $3.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 29th. Fifth Third Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FITB. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $37.50 to $32.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $28.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.39.

About Fifth Third Bancorp

(Get Free Report)

Fifth Third Bancorp operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer and Small Business Banking, and Wealth and Asset Management. The company's Commercial Banking segment offers credit intermediation, cash management, and financial services; lending and depository products; and cash management, foreign exchange and international trade finance, derivatives and capital markets services, asset-based lending, real estate finance, public finance, commercial leasing, and syndicated finance for business, government, and professional customers.