Insider Buying: H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) CEO Acquires 3,500 Shares of Stock

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) CEO Celeste Beeks Mastin purchased 3,500 shares of H.B. Fuller stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $56.66 per share, with a total value of $198,310.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,500 shares in the company, valued at $198,310. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

H.B. Fuller Price Performance

NYSE FUL traded up $1.00 on Tuesday, hitting $57.12. 899,925 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 360,113. H.B. Fuller has a 52 week low of $52.59 and a 52 week high of $87.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.19 and a 200-day moving average of $68.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.41.

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $788.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $769.55 million. H.B. Fuller had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 3.65%. H.B. Fuller’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts expect that H.B. Fuller will post 4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

H.B. Fuller Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.2225 per share. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. H.B. Fuller’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H.B. Fuller

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of H.B. Fuller by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,258,752 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $99,939,000 after acquiring an additional 18,734 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in H.B. Fuller by 79.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 730,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $57,952,000 after purchasing an additional 324,056 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its position in H.B. Fuller by 41.2% in the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 13,700 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in H.B. Fuller by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 554,947 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,448,000 after purchasing an additional 81,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of H.B. Fuller by 128.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 899 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FUL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of H.B. Fuller from $78.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of H.B. Fuller from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Vertical Research cut H.B. Fuller from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on H.B. Fuller from $60.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on H.B. Fuller from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.00.

About H.B. Fuller

H.B. Fuller Company, together with its subsidiaries, formulates, manufactures, and markets adhesives, sealants, coatings, polymers, tapes, encapsulants, additives, and other specialty chemical products. It operates through three segments: Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives; Engineering Adhesives; and Construction Adhesives.