Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in H. B. Fuller Company $FUL

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in H. B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 44,475 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS Group AG lifted its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 200.8% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 820,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $48,661,000 after buying an additional 548,017 shares during the period. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 287.2% in the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 371,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $22,031,000 after buying an additional 275,654 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 131.2% in the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 439,444 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,050,000 after buying an additional 249,350 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 771,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $45,847,000 after buying an additional 215,181 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of H. B. Fuller in the third quarter valued at about $12,494,000. 95.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FUL has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of H. B. Fuller in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of H. B. Fuller from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of H. B. Fuller from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of H. B. Fuller from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.25.

H. B. Fuller Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of FUL opened at $60.74 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. H. B. Fuller Company has a 12 month low of $48.71 and a 12 month high of $68.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.47.

H. B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $770.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $787.77 million. H. B. Fuller had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that H. B. Fuller Company will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

H. B. Fuller Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.245 per share. This is a positive change from H. B. Fuller’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. H. B. Fuller’s dividend payout ratio is 32.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other H. B. Fuller news, CEO Celeste Beeks Mastin purchased 5,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.08 per share, for a total transaction of $295,103.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,670 shares in the company, valued at approximately $494,883.60. This trade represents a 147.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.83% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About H. B. Fuller

H. B. Fuller Company, founded in 1887 and headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a global adhesives and specialty chemical solutions provider serving a wide array of industries. The company develops, manufactures and markets adhesive technologies, sealants, polymers and related chemical products designed to enhance product performance, sustainability and manufacturing efficiency.

Fuller’s product portfolio spans multiple market segments, including packaging and converting, general industrial assembly, electronics, transportation, hygiene and construction.