Vertical Research Upgrades FMC (NYSE:FMC) to Hold

FMC (NYSE:FMC) was upgraded by research analysts at Vertical Research to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on FMC. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upgraded FMC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded FMC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.62.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC opened at $35.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. 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 52-week low of $34.00 and a 52-week high of $68.72. The business’s fifty day moving average is $52.48 and its 200-day moving average is $58.53.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. Sell-side analysts expect that FMC will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at FMC

In other news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total transaction of $270,245.43. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,709,485.83. This represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,491 shares of company stock valued at $433,898 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FMC

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of FMC by 27.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,151,000 after buying an additional 1,343,615 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of FMC by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,088,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,509,000 after acquiring an additional 685,995 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in FMC by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,164,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,602,000 after acquiring an additional 28,059 shares in the last quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FMC by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. now owns 665,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,915,000 after purchasing an additional 9,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in FMC by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 589,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,634,000 after acquiring an additional 46,137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

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.