FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.25.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of FMC from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $63.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th.

FMC Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE FMC opened at $53.48 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $6.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.48. FMC has a 1 year low of $47.71 and a 1 year high of $68.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.02.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a net margin of 34.93% and a return on equity of 7.68%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of FMC stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This trade represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FMC

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in FMC by 4.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 37,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in shares of FMC during the 2nd quarter valued at $13,492,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of FMC by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 83,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,809,000 after buying an additional 1,517 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the second quarter valued at $7,990,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in FMC by 9.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 721,879 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,543,000 after buying an additional 64,055 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.