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Fulton Financial (FULT) Rewards Investors With New Buyback Plan

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Fulton Financial Corporation (FULT - Free Report) has announced a new share repurchase plan. The board of directors has approved the repurchase of up to $75 million worth of shares of FULT’s outstanding stock. This program will commence from Apr 1 and is valid till Dec 31, 2022.

The new repurchase plan will replace the previous one (set to expire on Mar 31), which authorized Fulton Financial initial buyback of up to $75 million worth of shares and was announced in February 2021. Further, in November, the company had extended the plan by up to $31.1 million. As of Dec 31, 2021, FULT had repurchased 2.8 million shares for $43.9 million.

Share buybacks aside, the company has been regularly raising dividends and enhancing shareholder value. Earlier this month, Fulton Financial announced a quarterly cash dividend of 15 cents per share, representing a 7.1% hike from the prior payout. The dividend will be paid out on Apr 18 to shareholders on record as of Apr 1.

Based on last day’s closing price of $17.57, the company’s dividend yield currently stands at 3.41%, which is impressive compared with the industry’s yield of 1.96%.

Prior to this, Fulton Financial had hiked its dividend by 7.7% and 8.3% in 2021 and 2019, respectively. The company also pays special dividends from time to time. In December 2021, it had paid 8 cents per share as a special dividend.

Also, Fulton Financial is growing through strategic acquisitions. This month, the company signed a deal to acquire Prudential Bancorp, Inc. for $142.1 million. The transaction, expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, will likely be 3.5% accretive to earnings per share in 2023.

Supported by its earnings strength and solid balance sheet, FULT is expected to continue with efficient capital deployment activities. Through this, it will keep enhancing shareholder value.

Over the past six months, shares of Fulton Financial have rallied 18.5%, outperforming 15% growth of the industry it belongs to.
 

Zacks Investment Research
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Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.

Other Banks That Took Similar Action

Southside Bancshares, Inc. (SBS - Free Report) announced a share repurchase plan on Mar 4, 2022. The board of directors approved the repurchase of up to 1 million of SBSI’s outstanding shares. The new share buyback authorization comes with no expiration date.

The new repurchase plan replaces the previous one. On Mar 12, 2020, Southside Bancshares’ board of directors increased the authorization under the previous stock repurchase plan of September 2019 by an additional 1 million shares to buy back up to 2 million shares.

Popular, Inc. (BPOP - Free Report) entered into an accelerated share repurchase (ASR) agreement on Feb 28, 2022, to repurchase an aggregate of $400 million of the company’s common stock. This is part of BPOP’s plan to repurchase up to $500 million of its common stock as part of its planned capital actions for the ongoing year, as underlined this January.

Per the ASR agreement, on Mar 2, 2022, Popular was expected to have made an initial payment of $400 million to buy 3,483,942 shares of its common stock. This will be accounted as a treasury stock transaction.

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