Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 85,574 Shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,371,223 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 85,574 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.40% of Fulton Financial worth $79,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the third quarter worth $33,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Fulton Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $46,000. Coston McIsaac & Partners acquired a new stake in Fulton Financial in the third quarter worth about $54,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Fulton Financial by 21.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,840 shares of the bank's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial in the second quarter valued at $172,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.02% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FULT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens upgraded Fulton Financial from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler set a $21.00 price target on Fulton Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Fulton Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $19.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 155,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,299,817.36. This represents a 13.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fulton Financial Price Performance

FULT stock traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $19.60. The stock had a trading volume of 4,384,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,451,932. Fulton Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $13.87 and a 52-week high of $22.49. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41 and a beta of 0.78. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $20.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $487.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.00 million. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 16.37% and a return on equity of 11.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. This is a boost from Fulton Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Fulton Financial's payout ratio is presently 45.57%.

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.