H. B. Fuller Company $FUL Shares Purchased by Verition Fund Management LLC

Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in H. B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL) by 1,379.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 383,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 358,003 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in H. B. Fuller were worth $22,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FUL. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of H. B. Fuller by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 578 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of H. B. Fuller by 432.9% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 778 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in H. B. Fuller in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in H. B. Fuller in the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in H. B. Fuller in the third quarter worth approximately $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised H. B. Fuller from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on H. B. Fuller from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Vertical Research upgraded H. B. Fuller from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group set a $58.00 price objective on H. B. Fuller in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of H. B. Fuller from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Celeste Beeks Mastin acquired 5,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $57.08 per share, with a total value of $295,103.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,670 shares in the company, valued at $494,883.60. This represents a 147.71% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.83% of the company’s stock.

H. B. Fuller Price Performance

FUL opened at $63.64 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $61.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.93. H. B. Fuller Company has a 12-month low of $48.71 and a 12-month high of $68.63. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

H. B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $770.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $787.77 million. H. B. Fuller had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that H. B. Fuller Company will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

H. B. Fuller Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $0.245 dividend. This represents a $0.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. This is a boost from H. B. Fuller’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. H. B. Fuller’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.34%.

About H. B. Fuller

H. B. Fuller Company, founded in 1887 and headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, is a global adhesives and specialty chemical solutions provider serving a wide array of industries. The company develops, manufactures and markets adhesive technologies, sealants, polymers and related chemical products designed to enhance product performance, sustainability and manufacturing efficiency.

Fuller’s product portfolio spans multiple market segments, including packaging and converting, general industrial assembly, electronics, transportation, hygiene and construction.