New York State Common Retirement Fund Raises Stock Holdings in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 546,026 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,993 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.30% of Fulton Financial worth $10,527,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FULT. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the third quarter worth about $33,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Fulton Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Fulton Financial by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,946 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 1,106 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,487 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total value of $275,632.18. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 63,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,317,580.58. The trade was a 17.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total value of $511,902.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,299,817.36. The trade was a 13.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FULT. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Fulton Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens raised Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Fulton Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.64.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ FULT opened at $19.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.10 and a 200 day moving average of $19.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Fulton Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $13.87 and a twelve month high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. This is an increase from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.86%.

Fulton Financial Company 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.