Delta Financial Group Inc. Buys New Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FMC. Barnett & Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of FMC in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,265,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its stake in FMC by 18.7% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 60,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,970,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 227,328 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,050,000 after buying an additional 39,230 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 27.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,867,000 after buying an additional 9,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank of Omaha boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 85.7% during the third quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 33,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,238,000 after buying an additional 15,662 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,107. This trade represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on FMC. Mizuho lowered their target price on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays dropped their price objective on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group downgraded shares of FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $66.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price (down from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.23.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC stock opened at $38.30 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.64. FMC Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.80 and a fifty-two week high of $68.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.73. The company has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.84.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its 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 net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. On average, analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.06%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.29%.

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.