Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.19 Per Share

Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.19 per share by the bank on Thursday, January 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This is a 5.6% increase from Fulton Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18.

Fulton Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 4 years. Fulton Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 35.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Fulton Financial to earn $2.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.3%.

Fulton Financial Stock Up 3.7%

FULT stock traded up $0.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.65. 521,904 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,483,410. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. Fulton Financial has a 1-year low of $14.32 and a 1-year high of $21.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.86.

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 8th. The bank reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter. Fulton Financial had a net margin of 19.01% and a return on equity of 12.75%. The company had revenue of $236.96 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fulton Financial will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FULT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered Fulton Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Fulton Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Fulton Financial from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Fulton Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.90.

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.