Insider Buying: FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Director Purchases $223,980.00 in Stock

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Director Carol Anthony Davidson bought 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $37.33 per share, with a total value of $223,980.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,980. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

FMC Price Performance

NYSE FMC opened at $41.31 on Friday. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $33.80 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.10.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. As a group, equities analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is 85.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of FMC in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,379,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its position in FMC by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 90,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,385,000 after acquiring an additional 14,030 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in FMC during the fourth quarter worth $1,962,000. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in FMC by 34.9% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 4,842 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in FMC by 154.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 49,292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,396,000 after acquiring an additional 29,908 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FMC has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group cut shares of FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of FMC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (down from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.23.

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.