Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $1.90 Million Stock Position in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,556 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,565 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $1,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FULT. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Fulton Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,455 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the bank’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 3,487 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

Fulton Financial Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ FULT opened at $19.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Fulton Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $13.87 and a 1 year high of $22.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $20.09 and its 200-day moving average is $19.46.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on FULT. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Fulton Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fulton Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total transaction of $511,902.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,299,817.36. This trade represents a 13.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,317,580.58. The trade was a 17.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fulton Financial Company 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.