Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires New Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 6,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FMC by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,291,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $743,338,000 after acquiring an additional 180,766 shares during the period. 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 worth $417,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,615 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in 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 valued at $101,509,000 after buying an additional 685,995 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in FMC by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,164,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $56,602,000 after buying an additional 28,059 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,888,000. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FMC Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of FMC stock opened at $42.25 on Friday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $43.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.81. The company has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93. FMC Co. has a 12 month low of $33.80 and a 12 month high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on FMC. KeyCorp dropped their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FMC 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 value of $163,429.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carol Anthony Davidson bought 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $37.33 per share, with a total value of $223,980.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,980. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.67% 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.