Legato Capital Management LLC Has $1.23 Million Stock Holdings in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Legato Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 498.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,641 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 52,998 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Fulton Financial were worth $1,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FULT. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Fulton Financial by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 567,790 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,007,000 after purchasing an additional 34,844 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Fulton Financial by 130.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 557,303 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,104,000 after buying an additional 315,435 shares in the last quarter. EMC Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 151.2% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 22,607 shares of the bank’s stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 13,607 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of Fulton Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,489,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,371,223 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,264,000 after acquiring an additional 85,574 shares during the last quarter. 72.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on FULT shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. DA Davidson raised 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. Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Fulton Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fulton Financial

In related news, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total value of $511,902.72. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $275,632.18. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 63,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,317,580.58. This represents a 17.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Fulton Financial Price Performance

Shares of FULT opened at $20.39 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $20.22 and its 200-day moving average is $19.29. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 0.79. Fulton Financial Co. 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 results 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. Fulton Financial’s payout ratio is 45.86%.

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.