Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $24.82 and last traded at $24.8510, with a volume of 94744 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $24.42.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on FULT. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Fulton Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Fulton Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Fulton Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.95 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.44.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $331.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $359.36 million. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 20.85% and a return on equity of 12.69%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fulton Financial Corporation will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 1st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 36.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director E Philip Wenger sold 5,000 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.14, for a total value of $120,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,822,014.78. The trade was a 6.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fulton Financial

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FULT. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 0.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,177,001 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $227,333,000 after acquiring an additional 87,813 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 31.2% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 8,050,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $163,756,000 after acquiring an additional 1,912,709 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Fulton Financial by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,590,883 shares of the bank’s stock worth $88,743,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,321 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Fulton Financial by 219.6% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,822,385 shares of the bank’s stock worth $54,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,939,260 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fulton Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $44,271,000. Institutional investors own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

About Fulton Financial

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.