Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.18 Per Share

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the bank on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

Fulton Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years. Fulton Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 39.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Fulton Financial to earn $1.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.8%.

Fulton Financial Stock Down 4.0 %

FULT stock opened at $19.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Fulton Financial has a 1-year low of $13.87 and a 1-year high of $22.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $19.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.50.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $487.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.00 million. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 16.37%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Fulton Financial will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total transaction of $511,902.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,299,817.36. The trade was a 13.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $21.00 price objective on Fulton Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.50.

About Fulton Financial

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.