StockNews.com Upgrades FMC (NYSE:FMC) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of FMC from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Mizuho boosted their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas lowered shares of FMC from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $56.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of FMC from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FMC currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $71.69.

FMC Price Performance

NYSE:FMC traded up $2.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $67.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,347,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,983,840. FMC has a fifty-two week low of $49.49 and a fifty-two week high of $112.10. The company has a market capitalization of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.99 and a 200-day moving average of $57.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. FMC had a net margin of 29.45% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $918.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.77 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 31.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that FMC will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.03%.

Insider Activity at FMC

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer purchased 2,150 shares of FMC stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.22 per share, for a total transaction of $127,323.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,966,211.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FMC. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH boosted its position in shares of FMC by 67.3% during the fourth quarter. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH now owns 118,531 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,473,000 after buying an additional 47,697 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of FMC by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 115,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,262,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of FMC by 37.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,764,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $118,166,000 after buying an additional 484,500 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in FMC by 15.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 14,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FMC during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $664,000. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FMC Company Profile

FMC Corporation, an agricultural sciences company, provides crop protection, plant health, and professional pest and turf management products. It develops, markets, and sells crop protection chemicals that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides; and biologicals, crop nutrition, and seed treatment products, which are used in agriculture to enhance crop yield and quality by controlling a range of insects, weeds, and diseases, as well as in non-agricultural markets for pest control.