Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday after DA Davidson raised their price target on the stock from $15.00 to $18.00. DA Davidson currently has a neutral rating on the stock. 3,366,850 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 163% from the previous session’s volume of 1,280,533 shares.The stock last traded at $16.62 and had previously closed at $16.80.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Fulton Financial from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $16.00 to $15.50 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Fulton Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $19.50 target price for the company in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fulton Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fulton Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 82.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,724 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Fulton Financial by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 92,173 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 864 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fulton Financial by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 19,714 shares of the bank’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 32,494 shares of the bank’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 1,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Fulton Financial by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,579 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fulton Financial Stock Down 1.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.32 and a 200 day moving average of $15.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Fulton Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.24%.

About Fulton Financial

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.