Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB)

Investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set a "buy" rating and a $47.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 26.34% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on FITB. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W raised Fifth Third Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $56.00 to $51.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.78.

Fifth Third Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,974,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,506,003. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.53. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 1-year low of $32.25 and a 1-year high of $49.07. The company has a market capitalization of $24.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.89.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.03. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.10% and a net margin of 17.43%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $371,836,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $334,805,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $113,900,000. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 4,128.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,860,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $78,654,000 after buying an additional 1,816,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,908,401 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $898,009,000 after buying an additional 1,321,554 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.79% of the company's stock.

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.