H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $54.32, but opened at $57.57. H.B. Fuller shares last traded at $54.82, with a volume of 219,528 shares traded.

The specialty chemicals company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $788.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.55 million. H.B. Fuller had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 3.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share.

H.B. Fuller Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a $0.2225 dividend. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 6th. H.B. Fuller’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FUL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on H.B. Fuller from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Vertical Research lowered shares of H.B. Fuller from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of H.B. Fuller from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of H.B. Fuller from $78.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of H.B. Fuller from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, H.B. Fuller has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.00.

Institutional Trading of H.B. Fuller

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FUL. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in H.B. Fuller by 128.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 899 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in H.B. Fuller by 731.1% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in H.B. Fuller during the fourth quarter worth $266,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in H.B. Fuller during the fourth quarter valued at about $465,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of H.B. Fuller during the 4th quarter worth approximately $783,000. 95.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

H.B. Fuller Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.75.

H.B. Fuller Company Profile

H.B. Fuller Company, together with its subsidiaries, formulates, manufactures, and markets adhesives, sealants, coatings, polymers, tapes, encapsulants, additives, and other specialty chemical products. It operates through three segments: Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives; Engineering Adhesives; and Construction Adhesives.