Global Retirement Partners LLC Trims Holdings in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Global Retirement Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,040 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 941 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,455 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 676 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in Fulton Financial by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 30,700 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. Olympiad Research LP boosted its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Olympiad Research LP now owns 13,418 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Fulton Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FULT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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 upgraded Fulton Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Fulton Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Fulton Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fulton Financial

In other news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total value of $275,632.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 63,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,317,580.58. This trade represents a 17.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fulton Financial Price Performance

FULT opened at $19.53 on Friday. Fulton Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $13.87 and a 1 year high of $22.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 12.44 and a beta of 0.79.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.06. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 11.41%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.86%.

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.