Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $20.50, but opened at $21.35. Fulton Financial shares last traded at $20.94, with a volume of 80,691 shares changing hands.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. Fulton Financial’s payout ratio is currently 45.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Fulton Financial Trading Down 1.4 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $487.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $321.00 million. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 16.37% and a return on equity of 11.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total value of $511,902.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,299,817.36. The trade was a 13.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fulton Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Fulton Financial during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial in the second quarter worth about $46,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners bought a new position in Fulton Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 21.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,840 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in Fulton Financial by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.