LANCASTER, Pa., June 22, 2019 – Shares of Fulton Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: FULT) lost -0.50% to $15.86. The stock grabbed the investor’s attention and traded 2.547M shares as compared to its average daily volume of 920.00K shares. The stock’s institutional ownership stands at 66.70%.

Fulton Financial Corp. (FULT) recently reported first-quarter profit of $56.70M, or $0.33 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2019.

Net Interest Income and Balance Sheet:

Net interest income for the first quarter of 2019 was $163.30M, slightly higher than the fourth quarter of 2018, as the positive impact of a five basis point increase in the net interest margin, to 3.49%, and a boost in average loans, was mostly offset by two fewer days of interest accruals during the first quarter of 2019 in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2018. The improvement in the net interest margin resulted from a thirteen basis point increase in the average yield on interest-earning assets which outpaced the nine basis point increase in the average cost of funds.

Total average assets for the first quarter of 2019 were $20.70B, a boost of $178.20M from the fourth quarter of 2018. Average loans, net of unearned income, increased $228.70M, or 1.4%, in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2018.

Total average liabilities increased $194.80M, or 1.1%, from the fourth quarter of 2018, while average deposits reduced $137.40M, or 0.8%.

Asset Quality:

The provision for credit losses for the first quarter of 2019 was $5.10M, contrast to $8.20M for the fourth quarter of 2018.

Non-performing assets were $147.70M, or 0.70% of total assets, at March 31, 2019, contrast to $150.20M, or 0.73% of total assets, at December 31, 2018 and $145.40M, or 0.73% of total assets, at March 31, 2018. Annualized net charge-offs for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 were 0.10% of total average loans, contrast to 0.17% and 0.10% for the quarters ended December 31, 2018 and March 31, 2018, respectively. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of non-performing loans was 123% at March 31, 2019, contrast to 121% at December 31, 2018 and a 131% at March 31, 2018.

Non-interest Income:

Non-interest income in the first quarter of 2019, excluding investment securities gains, was $46.70M, a decrease of $2.80M, or 5.7%, in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2018 and a boost of $0.80M, or 1.8%, contrast to the first quarter of 2018. Seasonal decreases occurred in consumer fees, specifically overdraft fees and card income. In addition, commercial fees showed a decrease in Small Business Administration lending income and commercial loan interest rate swap fees.

Non-interest Expense:

Non-interest expense was $137.80M in the first quarter of 2019, a decrease of $2.90M, or 2.0%, contrast to the fourth quarter of 2018 and a boost of $1.20M, or 0.9%, contrast to the first quarter of 2018. The decrease in amortization of tax credit investments resulted from $4.90M of amortization of a tax credit investment in the fourth quarter of 2018 that generated a corresponding credit to income taxes. Excluding the amortization of this tax credit investment in the fourth quarter, non-interest expense increased $2.00M, or 1.5%, in the first quarter of 2019, which was driven by increases in salaries and employee benefits, specifically a seasonal increase in payroll taxes, marketing and professional fees. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in other outside services.

In the first quarter of 2019, the Corporation incurred $1.00M of costs related to the consolidation of eight branches, unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2018. Expenses related to charter consolidation efforts were $1.50M in the first quarter of 2019, a $600.0K increase from the fourth quarter of 2018.

FULT has a market value of $2.69B while its EPS was booked as $1.23 in the last 12 months. The stock has 169.44M shares outstanding. In the profitability analysis, the company has net profit margin of 27.40%. Beta value of the company was 1.04; beta is used to measure riskiness of the security. Analyst recommendation for this stock stands at 3.00.