Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.50.

A number of research firms have weighed in on FULT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens raised shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $21.00 target price on Fulton Financial in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FULT opened at $19.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.37 and a 200-day moving average of $18.84. Fulton Financial has a one year low of $13.87 and a one year high of $22.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 12.20 and a beta of 0.79.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 16.37%. The firm had revenue of $487.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fulton Financial will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total transaction of $511,902.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,946 shares in the company, valued at $3,299,817.36. The trade was a 13.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fulton Financial

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 567,790 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,007,000 after acquiring an additional 34,844 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 130.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 557,303 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,104,000 after purchasing an additional 315,435 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Fulton Financial by 52.0% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 31,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $571,000 after buying an additional 10,773 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 11.6% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,371,223 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,264,000 after buying an additional 85,574 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

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.