Investors Research Corp Cuts Stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Investors Research Corp lowered its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,450 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp’s holdings in FMC were worth $631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commerce Bank grew its stake in FMC by 3.7% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. WP Advisors LLC grew its stake in FMC by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 6,193 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in FMC by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in FMC by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in FMC by 90.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on FMC. Vertical Research upgraded FMC to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Redburn Atlantic lowered FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Finally, UBS Group downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.23.

Insider Activity at FMC

In related news, Director Carol Anthony Davidson purchased 6,000 shares of FMC stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $37.33 per share, for a total transaction of $223,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $223,980. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total value of $163,429.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. This trade represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

FMC Trading Up 0.8 %

FMC stock opened at $41.60 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. FMC Co. has a 52 week low of $33.80 and a 52 week high of $68.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $45.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.88.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

About FMC

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.