Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Holdings in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,550 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,908 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $2,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 0.8% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 354,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,434,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Fulton Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $763,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Fulton Financial by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,358,099 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,752,000 after purchasing an additional 31,754 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 404,878 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,340,000 after purchasing an additional 28,539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 28.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 49,399 shares of the bank’s stock worth $896,000 after purchasing an additional 10,820 shares during the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fulton Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of FULT opened at $18.38 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.43. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 0.76. 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 twelve month low of $13.87 and a twelve month high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Fulton Financial Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Fulton Financial 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.