Good Life Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Good Life Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 49.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 23,055 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 22,717 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 4.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,544,159 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $191,166,000 after purchasing an additional 444,219 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fulton Financial by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,371,223 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,264,000 after buying an additional 85,574 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,358,099 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,752,000 after buying an additional 31,754 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Fulton Financial by 4.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,908,477 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,601,000 after buying an additional 77,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 213.6% in the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 1,307,559 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,706,000 after acquiring an additional 890,630 shares during the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FULT stock opened at $20.13 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $3.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82 and a beta of 0.79. Fulton Financial Co. has a one year low of $13.87 and a one year high of $22.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $20.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.36.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 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 year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. 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 45.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,299,817.36. This represents a 13.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total transaction of $275,632.18. Following the transaction, the president now owns 63,682 shares in the company, valued at $1,317,580.58. The trade was a 17.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.