FMC (NYSE:FMC) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup upped their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down previously from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.62.

FMC Price Performance

FMC stock opened at $36.65 on Friday. FMC has a 12 month low of $33.80 and a 12 month high of $68.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $49.79 and its 200-day moving average is $57.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.84.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. Equities research analysts expect that FMC will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.33%. FMC’s payout ratio is 85.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the business’s 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 owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commerce Bank lifted its holdings in FMC by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 6,193 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in FMC by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in FMC by 90.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. 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.