Fifth Third Bancorp Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:FITB)

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 9,618 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 242% compared to the average volume of 2,809 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Peter L. Sefzik sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.46, for a total value of $1,009,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 189,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,556,215.72. The trade was a 9.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Kevin J. Khanna sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.77, for a total value of $304,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 76,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,873,700.23. The trade was a 7.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.51% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fifth Third Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,948,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,929,647,000 after purchasing an additional 637,207 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,548,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,664,013,000 after purchasing an additional 10,444,799 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Fifth Third Bancorp by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 32,549,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,650,000 after buying an additional 1,719,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,437,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,484,021,000 after purchasing an additional 101,245 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fifth Third Bancorp by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 23,939,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,120,586,000 after buying an additional 530,489 shares in the last quarter. 83.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fifth Third Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FITB traded down $1.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $57.98. 5,159,166 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,416,457. The stock has a market cap of $52.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Fifth Third Bancorp has a 12-month low of $40.04 and a 12-month high of $59.50.

Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.20. Fifth Third Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 15.89%.The business had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fifth Third Bancorp will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fifth Third Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Fifth Third Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

More Fifth Third Bancorp News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fifth Third Bancorp this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fifth Third beat earnings expectations with adjusted EPS of $1.02 and reported profit of $763 million, signaling better-than-expected profitability in the quarter. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reuters and company materials highlighted stronger net interest income, fee growth in capital markets and wealth management, and lower deposit costs, all of which support earnings momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management also pointed to strong credit performance and benefits from the Comerica acquisition/integration, which is boosting scale and franchise strength. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Some reports said revenue/top-line results missed estimates, which may temper enthusiasm, but the miss appears smaller than the earnings beat. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Fifth Third was also named Euromoney’s United States’ Best Bank, reinforcing a favorable perception of the company’s transformation and long-term growth profile. Article Title

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FITB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Fifth Third Bancorp from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore set a $60.00 price target on Fifth Third Bancorp in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Fifth Third Bancorp from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Zacks Research lowered Fifth Third Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Fifth Third Bancorp in a report on Monday, May 4th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fifth Third Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.11.

Fifth Third Bancorp Company Profile

Fifth Third Bancorp is a Cincinnati, Ohio–based bank holding company whose primary banking subsidiary operates as Fifth Third Bank. The company provides a broad range of financial services to individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its business mix includes retail and commercial banking, lending, payment and card services, treasury and cash management, and wealth management and investment advisory services delivered through a combination of branch locations, commercial offices and digital platforms.

On the consumer side, Fifth Third offers deposit accounts, consumer loans, mortgages, auto financing and credit card products, along with digital banking and mobile services.