Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Fulton Financial Co. (NASDAQ:FULT) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $20.50, but opened at $21.35. Fulton Financial shares last traded at $20.94, with a volume of 80,691 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on FULT. Stephens upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler set a $21.00 price target on Fulton Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Fulton Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fulton Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.50.

Fulton Financial Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.49. The stock has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The bank reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $487.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $321.00 million. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 16.37% and a return on equity of 11.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Fulton Financial Co. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fulton Financial 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 $3,299,817.36. This represents a 13.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fulton Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FULT. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Fulton Financial by 52.0% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 31,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 10,773 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fulton Financial by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fulton Financial by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,371,223 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,264,000 after buying an additional 85,574 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Fulton Financial by 79.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 420,636 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,626,000 after acquiring an additional 186,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Fulton Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,784,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.02% of the company’s stock.

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.