Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) Receives $17.60 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.00.

FULT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Fulton Financial from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Fulton Financial from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Fulton Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Fulton Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $19.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ FULT opened at $17.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.31. Fulton Financial has a fifty-two week low of $9.64 and a fifty-two week high of $17.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.01. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 18.31% and a return on equity of 11.50%. The business had revenue of $230.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.90 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Fulton Financial will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Fulton Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.24%.

Institutional Trading of Fulton Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fulton Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $27,805,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,593,793 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,043,000 after acquiring an additional 686,269 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,918,831 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $196,188,000 after purchasing an additional 297,923 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,682,119 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,370,000 after purchasing an additional 232,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,444,753 shares of the bank’s stock worth $320,061,000 after purchasing an additional 216,465 shares in the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.