Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.18 Per Share

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the bank on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Fulton Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years. Fulton Financial has a payout ratio of 39.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Fulton Financial to earn $1.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

Fulton Financial stock traded down $0.76 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.74. 1,108,285 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,431,533. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a PE ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 0.78. Fulton Financial has a fifty-two week low of $13.87 and a fifty-two week high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $487.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.00 million. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 16.37% and a return on equity of 11.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fulton Financial will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FULT shares. Stephens raised shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $21.00 target price on Fulton Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fulton Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fulton Financial

In other news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total value of $511,902.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,299,817.36. This trade represents a 13.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Fulton Financial Company Profile

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.