168,992 Shares in H. B. Fuller Company $FUL Bought by Congruence Capital LLC

Congruence Capital LLC purchased a new stake in H. B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 168,992 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,048,000. H. B. Fuller accounts for approximately 3.7% of Congruence Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 87,360 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of H. B. Fuller in the fourth quarter worth about $134,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 49,490 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,943,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of H. B. Fuller by 128.8% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 37,225 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after buying an additional 20,957 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of H. B. Fuller by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,092 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. 95.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded H. B. Fuller from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of H. B. Fuller from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of H. B. Fuller in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of H. B. Fuller from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of H. B. Fuller from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, H. B. Fuller currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Celeste Beeks Mastin acquired 5,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $57.08 per share, with a total value of $295,103.60. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $494,883.60. The trade was a 147.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.83% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

H. B. Fuller Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of FUL opened at $63.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.92. H. B. Fuller Company has a one year low of $48.71 and a one year high of $68.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.96.

H. B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $770.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $787.77 million. H. B. Fuller had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 4.62%.H. B. Fuller’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that H. B. Fuller Company will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H. B. Fuller Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $0.245 dividend. This is a boost from H. B. Fuller’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. H. B. Fuller’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.34%.

H. B. Fuller Company Profile

H. B. Fuller Company, founded in 1887 and headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a global adhesives and specialty chemical solutions provider serving a wide array of industries. The company develops, manufactures and markets adhesive technologies, sealants, polymers and related chemical products designed to enhance product performance, sustainability and manufacturing efficiency.

Fuller’s product portfolio spans multiple market segments, including packaging and converting, general industrial assembly, electronics, transportation, hygiene and construction.