Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 86,940 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,676,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,455 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Fulton Financial by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 91,464 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,763,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in Fulton Financial by 11.6% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 193.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,294 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Fulton Financial by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 30,700 shares of the bank’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 1,150 shares in the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Fulton Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FULT opened at $18.09 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.45. Fulton Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $13.87 and a fifty-two week high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.86%.

Insider Activity

In other Fulton Financial news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total transaction 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 through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Fulton Financial 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.