FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $52.23.

A number of research analysts recently commented on FMC shares. UBS Group downgraded shares of FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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, February 5th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

FMC Stock Down 3.7 %

FMC stock opened at $35.52 on Tuesday. FMC has a 52-week low of $33.80 and a 52-week high of $68.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.84.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. FMC’s payout ratio is 85.29%.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In other 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of FMC

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FMC. State Street Corp lifted 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 worth $417,151,000 after buying an additional 1,343,615 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in FMC during the 4th quarter valued at $49,888,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in FMC by 37.8% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in FMC by 44.8% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in FMC by 48.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 685,995 shares during the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.