Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FMC. CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in FMC in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of FMC in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in FMC by 143.1% during the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in FMC by 50.0% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FMC. Wolfe Research started coverage on FMC in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of FMC from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BNP Paribas cut shares of FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on FMC in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America lowered FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.75.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FMC opened at $60.21 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a PE ratio of 5.72, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.61 and a 200-day moving average of $57.97. FMC Co. has a 12 month low of $49.49 and a 12 month high of $124.61.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. FMC had a net margin of 29.45% and a return on equity of 12.98%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.37 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FMC

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer bought 2,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,966,211.36. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.81% 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.