Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $1.95 Million Holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 115.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,084 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,500 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in FMC were worth $1,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in FMC by 27.3% in 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 raised its position in shares of FMC by 48.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 2,129.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 440,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,037,000 after purchasing an additional 420,601 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of FMC by 50.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 427,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,769,000 after purchasing an additional 143,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FMC during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,573,000. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FMC Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of FMC stock opened at $42.61 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.00. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $33.80 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The company has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.45%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on FMC. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on FMC in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Vertical Research raised FMC to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.15.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In other FMC news, Director Carol Anthony Davidson bought 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $37.33 per share, for a total transaction of $223,980.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,980. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ronaldo Pereira purchased 5,600 shares of FMC stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $35.77 per share, with a total value of $200,312.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 48,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,746,899.49. This trade represents a 12.95 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

FMC 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.