FULT vs. ABCB, CATY, FFBC, FRME, HWC, ONB, UBSI, WSFS, ASB, and FNB
Should you be buying Fulton Financial stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Fulton Financial include Ameris Bancorp (ABCB), Cathay General Bancorp (CATY), First Financial Bancorp. (FFBC), First Merchants (FRME), Hancock Whitney (HWC), Old National Bancorp (ONB), United Bankshares (UBSI), WSFS Financial (WSFS), Associated Banc (ASB), and F.N.B. (FNB). These companies are all part of the "finance" sector.
Fulton Financial vs. Its Competitors
Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) and Ameris Bancorp (NASDAQ:ABCB) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Fulton Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Ameris Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Fulton Financial pays out 42.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ameris Bancorp pays out 14.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Fulton Financial has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Fulton Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Fulton Financial presently has a consensus target price of $21.13, suggesting a potential upside of 19.89%. Ameris Bancorp has a consensus target price of $72.14, suggesting a potential upside of 9.46%. Given Fulton Financial's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Fulton Financial is more favorable than Ameris Bancorp.
Ameris Bancorp has a net margin of 21.46% compared to Fulton Financial's net margin of 17.00%. Fulton Financial's return on equity of 12.44% beat Ameris Bancorp's return on equity.
72.0% of Fulton Financial shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Fulton Financial shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Ameris Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Ameris Bancorp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Fulton Financial. Fulton Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ameris Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Ameris Bancorp had 10 more articles in the media than Fulton Financial. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Ameris Bancorp and 6 mentions for Fulton Financial. Ameris Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.67 beat Fulton Financial's score of 0.37 indicating that Ameris Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Fulton Financial has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ameris Bancorp has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Ameris Bancorp beats Fulton Financial on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding FULT and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Fulton Financial Competitors List
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This page (NASDAQ:FULT) was last updated on 8/4/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
