Short Interest in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) Grows By 11.5%

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,030,000 shares, a growth of 11.5% from the May 31st total of 7,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Institutional Trading of Fulton Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Fulton Financial by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,879,238 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $22,758,000 after acquiring an additional 8,292 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 12.2% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 61,290 shares of the bank’s stock worth $742,000 after acquiring an additional 6,672 shares in the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 519.7% in the 3rd quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management now owns 20,040 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 16,806 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fulton Financial by 16.0% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,682,119 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,370,000 after buying an additional 232,462 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIC Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fulton Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $180,000. 72.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on FULT shares. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Fulton Financial from $15.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Fulton Financial from $18.50 to $18.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upped their price target on Fulton Financial from $15.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Fulton Financial from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.40.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Fulton Financial stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $16.40. The company had a trading volume of 751,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,411,815. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Fulton Financial has a one year low of $11.47 and a one year high of $17.68. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.99.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.01. Fulton Financial had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 18.31%. The business had revenue of $230.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $268.90 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Fulton Financial will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fulton Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.