Dean Investment Associates LLC Purchases 123,001 Shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Dean Investment Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT - Free Report) by 452.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,169 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 123,001 shares during the period. Dean Investment Associates LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Fulton Financial worth $2,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Fulton Financial by 193.4% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,294 shares of the bank's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 853 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Fulton Financial by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,200 shares of the bank's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fulton Financial during the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Fulton Financial by 196.9% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,976 shares of the bank's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,455 shares of the bank's stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FULT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Fulton Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised Fulton Financial from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report 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 research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Fulton Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fulton Financial currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total value 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 approximately $1,317,580.58. This represents a 17.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fulton Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FULT traded up $0.21 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.42. The company had a trading volume of 480,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,555,569. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.68. 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 $14.33 and a twelve month high of $22.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.18.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.08. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.41% and a net margin of 15.87%. The business had revenue of $322.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.07 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Fulton Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 1st. Fulton Financial's payout ratio is 42.35%.

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.