FMC (NYSE:FMC) Upgraded to “Hold” at Vertical Research

FMC (NYSE:FMC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Vertical Research to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

FMC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded FMC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup raised their price objective on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $57.62.

FMC Price Performance

FMC stock opened at $35.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.48. FMC has a 1 year low of $34.00 and a 1 year high of $68.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.53.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. On average, equities analysts predict that FMC will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,709,485.83. The trade was a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of FMC 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,491 shares of company stock worth $433,898. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of FMC

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC boosted its position in shares of FMC by 45.7% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 9,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 3,043 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC acquired a new stake in FMC during the fourth quarter valued at $1,412,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in FMC during the fourth quarter valued at $5,573,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in FMC by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 36,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,761,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in FMC during the fourth quarter valued at $1,505,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.