H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) Short Interest Down 5.1% in January

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,290,000 shares, a decrease of 5.1% from the January 15th total of 1,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 365,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On H.B. Fuller

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of H.B. Fuller by 128.8% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 899 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in H.B. Fuller by 731.1% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in H.B. Fuller during the fourth quarter worth approximately $266,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of H.B. Fuller during the fourth quarter worth approximately $465,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of H.B. Fuller in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $783,000. 95.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

H.B. Fuller Stock Performance

Shares of FUL stock opened at $59.03 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.49. H.B. Fuller has a one year low of $58.86 and a one year high of $87.67. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.16.

H.B. Fuller (NYSE:FUL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $923.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $916.84 million. H.B. Fuller had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that H.B. Fuller will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

H.B. Fuller Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.2225 per share. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. H.B. Fuller’s dividend payout ratio is 38.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on FUL. Vertical Research cut H.B. Fuller from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of H.B. Fuller from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of H.B. Fuller from $78.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of H.B. Fuller from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.60.

H.B. Fuller Company Profile

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.