Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its holdings in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 34.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 426,419 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 228,644 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $8,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FULT. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Fulton Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $763,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 1.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 404,878 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,340,000 after buying an additional 28,539 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Fulton Financial by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 49,399 shares of the bank’s stock worth $896,000 after acquiring an additional 10,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Fulton Financial in the third quarter valued at $426,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 63,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,317,580.58. This represents a 17.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FULT opened at $17.97 on Friday. Fulton Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $13.87 and a 1 year high of $22.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.76. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $19.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.43.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.06. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 11.41%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Fulton Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.86%.

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.