Short Interest in H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) Drops By 19.6%

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 820,000 shares, a drop of 19.6% from the October 15th total of 1,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 334,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Institutional Trading of H.B. Fuller

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of H.B. Fuller by 55.7% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 27,833 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,839,000 after buying an additional 9,960 shares in the last quarter. Luminus Management LLC acquired a new position in H.B. Fuller during the first quarter worth $3,396,000. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in H.B. Fuller by 4.9% during the second quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 66,538 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,006,000 after buying an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of H.B. Fuller in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of H.B. Fuller in the third quarter valued at about $701,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.14% of the company’s stock.

H.B. Fuller Stock Performance

Shares of FUL stock opened at $72.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.61. H.B. Fuller has a 52 week low of $62.57 and a 52 week high of $81.41.

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.14 by ($0.08). H.B. Fuller had a return on equity of 12.00% and a net margin of 4.16%. The business had revenue of $900.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $954.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. H.B. Fuller’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that H.B. Fuller will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current year.

H.B. Fuller Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 19th were paid a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 18th. H.B. Fuller’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of H.B. Fuller from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of H.B. Fuller in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of H.B. Fuller in a research report on Monday, September 11th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $78.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, H.B. Fuller currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $80.60.

H.B. Fuller Company Profile

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