Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Buys 3,360 Shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,178 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,360 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $582,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,383,504 shares of the bank’s stock worth $431,554,000 after acquiring an additional 285,376 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC bought a new position in Fulton Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $289,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Fulton Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $698,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 43.2% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,315 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 5,225 shares during the period. Finally, Enhancing Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,848,000. 72.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of Fulton Financial stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 63,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,317,580.58. The trade was a 17.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Fulton Financial Stock Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ:FULT opened at $18.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.43. Fulton Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $13.87 and a 52-week high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 15.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Fulton Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. Fulton Financial’s payout ratio is presently 45.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.