HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 63,321 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 849 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $1,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FULT. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Fulton Financial by 193.4% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the third quarter worth $33,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,455 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in Fulton Financial by 16,041.2% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 5,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 5,454 shares during the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fulton Financial

In other Fulton Financial news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total value of $275,632.18. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 63,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,317,580.58. The trade was a 17.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fulton Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

FULT opened at $18.30 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $19.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.76. Fulton Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $13.87 and a 12 month high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.06. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 15.87%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on FULT. StockNews.com raised Fulton Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson upped 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. Hovde Group increased their price objective on Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens raised Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Fulton Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.64.

Fulton Financial 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.