Fulton Financial Co. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 (NASDAQ:FULT)

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the bank on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st.

Fulton Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% per year over the last three years. Fulton Financial has a payout ratio of 34.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Fulton Financial to earn $2.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.3%.

Fulton Financial Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ FULT opened at $18.29 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $19.76 and its 200-day moving average is $19.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 0.76. Fulton Financial has a twelve month low of $13.87 and a twelve month high of $22.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $0.42 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Fulton Financial will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fulton Financial

In other Fulton Financial news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total value of $275,632.18. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 63,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,317,580.58. The trade was a 17.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.