Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $2.64 Million in H. B. Fuller Company $FUL

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group opened a new stake in H. B. Fuller, buying 44,475 shares valued at about $2.64 million in the fourth quarter.
• Several analysts turned more positive on the stock, with multiple buy/strong-buy upgrades and a consensus rating of Moderate Buy; the average price target is $64.25.
• H. B. Fuller reported quarterly EPS of $0.57, slightly ahead of estimates, and also raised its dividend to $0.245 per share, while the stock recently traded around $60.74.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in H. B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 44,475 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $2,644,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.08% of H. B. Fuller at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FUL. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 200.8% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 820,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $48,661,000 after acquiring an additional 548,017 shares during the last quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC increased its position in H. B. Fuller by 287.2% during the third quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 371,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $22,031,000 after buying an additional 275,654 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its position in H. B. Fuller by 131.2% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 439,444 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $26,050,000 after buying an additional 249,350 shares during the last quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its position in H. B. Fuller by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 771,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $45,847,000 after buying an additional 215,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in H. B. Fuller during the third quarter worth $12,494,000. 95.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of H. B. Fuller from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 29th. UBS Group set a $58.00 target price on shares of H. B. Fuller in a research report on Wednesday. Vertical Research raised shares of H. B. Fuller from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of H. B. Fuller from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, H. B. Fuller presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.25.

Insider Activity

In other H. B. Fuller news, CEO Celeste Beeks Mastin purchased 5,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 7th. The shares were bought 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 trade represents a 147.71% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.83% of the company's stock.

H. B. Fuller Trading Up 5.1%

H. B. Fuller stock opened at $60.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.95. H. B. Fuller Company has a one year low of $48.71 and a one year high of $68.63. The company's fifty day moving average price is $59.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.47.

H. B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $770.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $787.77 million. H. B. Fuller had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 4.62%.The firm's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that H. B. Fuller Company will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

H. B. Fuller Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $0.245 dividend. This is an increase from H. B. Fuller's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $0.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.