Share Repurchase Plan Approved by Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) Board

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, June 16th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on FITB shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded Fifth Third Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.53.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Fifth Third Bancorp stock traded up $0.34 on Monday, reaching $38.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,291,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,474,402. The company has a market capitalization of $25.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 52 week low of $32.25 and a 52 week high of $49.07. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $37.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.58.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. Fifth Third Bancorp had a net margin of 17.43% and a return on equity of 14.10%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Fifth Third Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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