Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

FULT has been the topic of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Fulton Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stephens upgraded Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $21.00 price target on Fulton Financial in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fulton Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.67.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FULT stock opened at $20.58 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.11. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.79. Fulton Financial has a 1 year low of $13.87 and a 1 year high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.06. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.78% and a net margin of 15.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fulton Financial will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. Fulton Financial’s payout ratio is 45.86%.

Insider Transactions at Fulton Financial

In related news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total transaction of $511,902.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,299,817.36. This represents a 13.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Fulton Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners acquired a new position in shares of Fulton Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,946 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 1,106 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 3,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.