Fifth Third Rewards Shareholders With New Share Repurchase Program

Fifth Third Bancorp's FITB board of directors has approved a new share repurchase authorization of up to 100 million shares.

The new authorization replaces the previous authorization announced in June 2019, under which 11.8 million shares remained. The new repurchase authorization offers flexibility, allowing stock buybacks without a set expiration or price limit. The company may conduct repurchases through open-market transactions or privately negotiated transactions, including Rule 10b5-1 programs. The repurchase program may be modified, suspended, or discontinued at any time based on market conditions, legal requirements, and other uncertainties.

FITB's Other Capital Distribution Actions

Fifth Third pays quarterly dividends regularly. In September 2024, the company announced a 5.7% increase in its quarterly dividend to 37 cents per share. Over the last five years, the company increased its quarterly dividend four times. It has a payout ratio of 44%.

Considering yesterday’s closing price of $38.32, its annualized dividend yield is 3.86%.

Fifth Third Bancorp Dividend Yield (TTM)

Fifth Third Bancorp dividend-yield-ttm | Fifth Third Bancorp Quote

The company maintains a decent liquidity position. As of March 31, 2025, the company had cash and due from banks of $17.9 billion, while cash levels remain decent relative to total debt of $19.9 billion, with $5.5 billion in short-term borrowings. Further, as of March 31, 2025, Fifth Third’s common equity tier (CET) 1 ratio was 10.45%. This offers room for the company to enhance its capital distribution plans.

Hence, a decent balance sheet position, along with its earnings strength, indicates that FITB’s capital distributions are sustainable.

FITB's Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Shares of FITB have gained 6.2% compared with the industry’s 17.8% growth over the past year.

Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Similar Steps by Other Finance Firms

In May 2025, MVB Financial Corp. MVBF authorized a $10 million stock repurchase program. The company plans to execute buybacks through open-market transactions, block trades, and privately negotiated deals.

With a strong liquidity position, holding $251 million in cash and cash equivalents, MVBF remains committed to enhancing shareholder value through capital distribution activities.

Likewise, in March 2025, KeyCorp KEY announced a $1 billion share repurchase plan, set to begin in the second half of the year. The company has not actively repurchased shares in recent years due to macroeconomic challenges, but is now taking steps to strengthen its capital ratios.

KEY raised its quarterly dividend by 5.1% to 20.5 cents per share in 2022 and has maintained that level since. While the company initially benefited from the Federal Reserve's rate hikes (which started in March 2022), rising funding and deposit costs later strained its financial and capital ratios. 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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