H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on FUL. Vertical Research cut shares of H.B. Fuller from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of H.B. Fuller from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of H.B. Fuller from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered H.B. Fuller from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on H.B. Fuller from $78.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.50.

H.B. Fuller Stock Performance

FUL opened at $53.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.27. H.B. Fuller has a fifty-two week low of $47.56 and a fifty-two week high of $87.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $55.47 and a 200 day moving average of $65.80.

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.05. H.B. Fuller had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company had revenue of $788.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that H.B. Fuller will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H.B. Fuller Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a $0.235 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. This is a boost from H.B. Fuller’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. H.B. Fuller’s payout ratio is currently 44.50%.

Insider Transactions at H.B. Fuller

In other news, CEO Celeste Beeks Mastin acquired 3,500 shares of H.B. Fuller stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $56.66 per share, with a total value of $198,310.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 3,500 shares in the company, valued at $198,310. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of H.B. Fuller

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FUL. Amundi boosted its position in H.B. Fuller by 191.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 28,553 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,804,000 after acquiring an additional 18,771 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in shares of H.B. Fuller by 79.8% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 730,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $57,952,000 after purchasing an additional 324,056 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in H.B. Fuller by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 554,947 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,448,000 after purchasing an additional 81,558 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in H.B. Fuller during the fourth quarter worth about $465,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in H.B. Fuller by 128.8% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.93% of the company’s stock.

About H.B. Fuller

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.