Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Stock Holdings in Fulton Financial Corporation $FULT

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) by 50.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,180 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 26,956 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FULT. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Fulton Financial by 42.4% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,626,858 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,676,495 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,587,133 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $82,760,000 after purchasing an additional 50,122 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 260,016 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fulton Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,813,000. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. increased its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 1,732,904 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $32,284,000 after purchasing an additional 27,570 shares during the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director E Philip Wenger sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total value of $97,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 85,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,671,075.35. This represents a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on FULT shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Fulton Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fulton Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.90.

Fulton Financial Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of FULT opened at $20.19 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 0.85. Fulton Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $14.32 and a 12-month high of $21.24.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $336.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $336.80 million. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 20.68% and a return on equity of 12.59%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.48 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Fulton Financial Corporation will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Fulton Financial announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, December 16th that permits the company to repurchase $150.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This is a boost from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 31st. Fulton Financial’s payout ratio is presently 39.79%.

Fulton Financial 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.