Earnings Watch: Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT)

Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FULT) reported earnings for the three months ended Mar2016 on April 19, 2016. The company earned $0.22 per share on revenue of $134.03M. Analysts had been modeling earning per share of $0.21 with $131.64M in revenue.

Fulton Financial Corporation (FULT) on April 19, 2016 reported net income of $38.3 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2016.

“Fulton’s first quarter resulted in double digit pre-provision net revenue growth year-over-year, a clear reflection of our efforts to focus on organic growth and take advantage of the local market disruption,” said E. Philip Wenger, Chairman, President and CEO. “Our commercial loan pipeline remains strong while our fee income businesses continue to build momentum, so we remain optimistic that we can create meaningful positive operating leverage in 2016.”

Diluted earnings per share for the first quarter of 2016 were 22 cents, unchanged from both the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2015. Pre-provision net revenue of $50.8 million was 6.6% lower than the fourth quarter of 2015 and 11.2% higher than the first quarter of 2015.

• Net interest income for the first quarter of 2016 increased $1.3 million, or 1.0 percent, compared to the fourth quarter of 2015 and $5.5 million, or 4.4 percent compared to first quarter of 2015.


• Net interest margin increased four basis points to 3.23 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, and decreased four basis points compared to the first quarter of 2015.


• Loans at March 31, 2016 increased $32.1 million, or 0.2 percent, compared to December 31, 2015 and $755.2 million, or 5.8 percent, compared to March 31, 2015. Average loans for the first quarter of 2016 increased 1.4 percent and 5.8 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2015, respectively.


• Deposits at March 31, 2016 increased $272.0 million, or 1.9 percent, compared to December 31, 2015 and $889.8 million, or 6.6 percent, compared to March 31, 2015. Average deposits for the first quarter of 2016 decreased 0.1 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, and increased 6.2 percent, compared to the first quarter of 2015.


• The provision for credit losses in the first quarter of 2016 was $1.5 million, compared to a $2.8 million provision in the fourth quarter of 2015 and a negative $3.7 million provision in the first quarter of 2015.


• Non-interest income, excluding investment securities gains, decreased $2.9 million, or 6.4 percent, in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2015, and increased $1.6 million, or 3.9 percent, in comparison to the first quarter of 2015.

Fulton Financial Corporation earnings per share showed an increasing trend of 0.3% for the current fiscal year. The company’s expected EPS growth rate for next fiscal year is 96%.Analysts project EPS decline over the next 5 years at -2.3%. It has EPS annual growth over the past 5 fiscal years of 7.6% when sales declined -4.8. It reported 2.4% sales growth, and -1.7% EPS decline in the last quarter.

The stock is trading at $14.25, up 25.62% from 52-week low of $11.48. The stock trades down -1.01% from its peak of $14.59 and -4.84% below the consensus price target of $13.56. Its volume clocked up at 0.85 million shares which is lower than the average volume of 0.96 million shares. Its market capitalization currently stands at $2.46B.