H. B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• H. B. Fuller has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with seven brokerages involved; target prices vary, with the average being $67.25.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $1.18, surpassing estimates, but revenue decreased by 2.1% year-over-year.
• H. B. Fuller announced a quarterly dividend of $0.235 per share, representing a yield of 1.7%, payable on August 14th.

Shares of H. B. Fuller Company (NYSE:FUL - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the seven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.25.

Several research firms recently issued reports on FUL. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on H. B. Fuller from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Baird R W upgraded H. B. Fuller from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of H. B. Fuller from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Joao Magalhaes sold 1,046 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.20, for a total transaction of $58,785.20. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 3,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $184,617. The trade was a 24.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Robert J. Martsching sold 9,546 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $613,807.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 14,980 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $963,214. This trade represents a 38.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FUL. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in H. B. Fuller during the first quarter worth $990,000. Cooke & Bieler LP acquired a new position in shares of H. B. Fuller in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,830,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of H. B. Fuller by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 127,896 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $8,630,000 after purchasing an additional 15,100 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of H. B. Fuller by 731.1% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in H. B. Fuller by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 33,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.93% of the company's stock.

H. B. Fuller Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:FUL traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.43. The company had a trading volume of 78,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,790. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.06. H. B. Fuller has a 12 month low of $47.56 and a 12 month high of $85.89.

H. B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.08. H. B. Fuller had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 2.92%. The firm had revenue of $898.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $894.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that H. B. Fuller will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

H. B. Fuller Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. H. B. Fuller's dividend payout ratio is presently 50.81%.

About H. B. Fuller

H.B. Fuller Company, together with its subsidiaries, formulates, manufactures, and markets adhesives, sealants, coatings, polymers, tapes, encapsulants, additives, and other specialty chemical products. It operates through three segments: Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives; Engineering Adhesives; and Construction Adhesives.