Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) to Issue $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. 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 dividend payout ratio of 34.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:FULT opened at $17.97 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.76. Fulton Financial has a fifty-two week low of $13.87 and a fifty-two week high of $22.49.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fulton Financial will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fulton Financial

In other news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 27th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,317,580.58. This trade represents a 17.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FULT has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens raised Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Fulton Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Fulton Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company 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 note on Thursday, January 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fulton Financial presently 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.