Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its stake in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 144,346 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 770 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 0.08% of Fulton Financial worth $2,617,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Fulton Financial by 52.0% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 31,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 10,773 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,371,223 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,264,000 after purchasing an additional 85,574 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 420,636 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,626,000 after purchasing an additional 186,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Fulton Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,784,000. Institutional investors own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Fulton Financial Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of FULT opened at $19.86 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.61. Fulton Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $13.87 and a twelve month high of $22.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $487.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $321.00 million. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 16.37%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FULT has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler set a $21.00 target price on Fulton Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fulton Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.50.

Insider Activity at Fulton Financial

In other news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total value of $511,902.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,299,817.36. This trade represents a 13.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.