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Fulton (FULT) Announces Dividend Hike, New Repurchase Plan

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Fulton Financial Corporation (FULT - Free Report) announced a sequential dividend hike. The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of 17 cents per share, reflecting a rise of 6.3% from the prior payout. The dividend will be paid out on Jan 12, 2024, to shareholders of record as of Jan 2.

Prior to the current hike, the company increased its dividend by 6.7% to 16 cents per share in June 2023. FULT raised its quarterly dividend eight times in the last five years. Further, it has a five-year annualized dividend growth of 5.4%. Currently, the company's payout ratio is 36% of earnings.

Considering the Dec 19 closing price of $16.50, Fulton Financial's dividend yield currently stands at 4.12%, which is impressive compared with the industry average of 2.92%.

Concurrently, the company also announced a new repurchase program, under which it is authorized to repurchase up to $125 million worth of shares. Under this program, up to $25 million is likely to be used to repurchase shares of Fulton’s preferred stock and outstanding subordinated notes. The new program will be effective from Jan 1, 2024, and will expire on Dec 31, 2024.

Apart from the new repurchase program, Fulton has an existing program in place. In December 2022, the company announced a new repurchase program, under which, it is authorized to repurchase up to $100 million worth of shares. As of Sep 30, 2023, it had $29.1 million worth of shares remaining under the repurchase authorization.

Supported by its earnings strength and solid balance sheet, the company is expected to continue with efficient capital distribution activities. Through this, Fulton will keep enhancing shareholder value.

Over the past three months, shares of FULT have gained 35.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 24.8%.

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Fulton currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Other Finance Stocks Taking Similar Steps

SEI Investments Company’s (SEIC - Free Report) board of directors has announced enhanced capital distribution plans, including a dividend hike and an increase in the share repurchase program. The company announced a semi-annual cash dividend of 46 cents per share, representing an increase of 7% from the prior payout. The dividend will be paid out on Jan 9, 2024, to shareholders of record as of Dec 28, 2023.

SEIC has a record of continuously raising dividends. Prior to this hike, the company announced a dividend raise in December 2022. The amount was increased from 40 cents per share to 43 cents.

Concurrently, the company announced an increase in share buyback authorization by $250 million. This brings SEIC’s available authorization under the program to nearly $289 million.

U.S. Bancorp (USB - Free Report) declared a quarterly cash dividend of 49 cents per share, marking an increase of 2.1% from the prior quarter. The dividend will be paid out on Jan 16, 2024, to shareholders of record as of Dec 29, 2023.

Prior to the recent hike, USB raised its dividend in September 2022 by 4.3% to 48 cents per share. Also, the company has a five-year annualized dividend growth of 5.8%. Currently, its payout ratio is 42% of earnings.


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