Fifth Third price target raised to $48.50 from $42.50 at JPMorgan

JPMorgan raised the firm’s price target on Fifth Third to $48.50 from $42.50 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares as part of a Q3 earnings preview for the large cap banks. Loan growth “remains elusive” for banks and the slowdown of rate cuts following Friday’s strong jobs report will further push back expected recovery in these loans, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says bank stocks “have been choppy recently” with regional banks outperforming money centers since the Q2 earnings in anticipation of greater benefit to them from sizable rate cuts over next 18-24 months. In the near term into earnings, JPMorgan prefers the money centers.