FMC (NYSE:FMC) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $51.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 28.12% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on FMC from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com cut shares of FMC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Vertical Research upgraded shares of FMC to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “cautious” rating on shares of FMC in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.14.

FMC Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE:FMC opened at $39.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $45.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. FMC has a 1 year low of $33.80 and a 1 year high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its 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 net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FMC will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at FMC

In related news, insider Ronaldo Pereira bought 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $35.77 per share, with a total value of $200,312.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 48,837 shares in the company, valued at $1,746,899.49. This represents a 12.95 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,407,107. This trade represents a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,343,615 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of FMC in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,888,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,559,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $173,008,000 after purchasing an additional 977,110 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,286,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,131,000 after purchasing an additional 707,727 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 48.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,088,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $101,509,000 after purchasing an additional 685,995 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.