Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes $517,000 Position in Fulton Financial Corporation $FULT

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,366 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FULT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Fulton Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $676,732,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 0.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,177,001 shares of the bank’s stock worth $227,333,000 after buying an additional 87,813 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 31.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 8,050,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $163,756,000 after buying an additional 1,912,709 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,590,883 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $88,743,000 after buying an additional 1,054,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 219.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,822,385 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,557,000 after buying an additional 1,939,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FULT shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Fulton Financial from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 price target (up from $23.00) on shares of Fulton Financial in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Fulton Financial in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Fulton Financial from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director E Philip Wenger sold 5,000 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction on 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 owned 75,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,822,014.78. This trade represents a 6.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lisa Crutchfield sold 4,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.80, for a total value of $101,680.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,382.40. This trade represents a 34.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fulton Financial Price Performance

FULT opened at $23.46 on Tuesday. Fulton Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $16.60 and a 1 year high of $25.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $367.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $358.83 million. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 20.63% and a return on equity of 12.68%. Fulton Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fulton Financial Corporation will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Fulton Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 1st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.36%.

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.