Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 16,547 Shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 181,471 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,547 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. owned 0.10% of Fulton Financial worth $3,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in Fulton Financial by 70.9% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 79,410 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after buying an additional 32,941 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $452,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 78.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 83,162 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,321,000 after purchasing an additional 36,663 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 53.7% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 270,480 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,452,000 after purchasing an additional 94,538 shares during the period. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Fulton Financial in the 1st quarter worth $1,941,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on FULT. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Fulton Financial from $18.50 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.40.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ FULT opened at $16.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $18.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.10. Fulton Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $11.63 and a 1 year high of $20.33. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.54 and a beta of 0.74.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $334.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $296.38 million. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 17.93%. Fulton Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 22.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. Fulton Financial’s payout ratio is 42.24%.

About Fulton Financial

Fulton Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. It accepts various checking accounts and savings deposit products, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts.