Vest Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Fulton Financial Corporation $FULT

Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) by 24.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,625 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,944 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.11% of Fulton Financial worth $3,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 42.4% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,626,858 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,676,495 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fulton Financial by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,133 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,760,000 after buying an additional 50,122 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Fulton Financial by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,859,152 shares of the bank’s stock worth $51,579,000 after buying an additional 260,016 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fulton Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,813,000. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 1.6% during the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,732,904 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,284,000 after acquiring an additional 27,570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Fulton Financial Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:FULT opened at $21.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 0.85. Fulton Financial Corporation has a one year low of $14.32 and a one year high of $21.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.81.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.03. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 20.68%.The firm had revenue of $336.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $336.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Fulton Financial Corporation will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 16th that allows the company to buyback $150.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fulton Financial news, Director E Philip Wenger sold 5,000 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total value of $97,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 85,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,671,075.35. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FULT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut Fulton Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Fulton Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fulton Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.90.

Fulton Financial Company Profile

Fulton Financial Corporation, trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker FULT, is the financial holding company for Fulton Bank, headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The company delivers a broad range of banking and financial services through its subsidiary, Fulton Bank, targeting both individual and corporate clients. Fulton Financial’s offerings include deposit accounts, lending solutions, treasury management, and specialized banking services designed to support personal wealth goals and business growth initiatives.

Through Fulton Bank, the company provides retail banking services such as checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential mortgage loans, and home equity products.