Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 6,565 Shares of Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,556 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,565 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.05% of Fulton Financial worth $1,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Fulton Financial by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 567,790 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,007,000 after acquiring an additional 34,844 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Fulton Financial by 130.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 557,303 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,104,000 after acquiring an additional 315,435 shares in the last quarter. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings 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 period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 1,255.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 20,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 18,877 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the 4th quarter worth $329,000. 72.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on FULT. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Fulton Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens raised shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $22.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.64.

Fulton Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:FULT opened at $19.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.62 and a beta of 0.79. Fulton Financial Co. has a one year low of $13.87 and a one year high of $22.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Fulton Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Fulton Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Angela M. Snyder sold 13,322 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.69, for a total value of $275,632.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 63,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,317,580.58. This represents a 17.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Curtis J. Myers sold 24,192 shares of the 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 owns 155,946 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,299,817.36. This represents a 13.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

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.