FMC (NYSE:FMC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (down previously from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FMC presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.62.

FMC Price Performance

FMC stock opened at $35.66 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.07, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. FMC has a 52-week low of $34.00 and a 52-week high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly 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 34.93% and a return on equity of 7.68%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.97%.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In related news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total value of $163,429.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total transaction of $270,245.43. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,709,485.83. This trade represents a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,491 shares of company stock worth $433,898 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FMC. Commerce Bank increased its stake in FMC by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. WP Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of FMC by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 6,193 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in FMC by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in FMC by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of FMC by 90.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

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.