FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $67.08.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FMC. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho lifted their target price on FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at FMC

In related news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,709,485.83. The trade was a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FMC

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of FMC by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $417,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,615 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in FMC by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,136,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,931,000 after buying an additional 20,350 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 317.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,099,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,160,000 after buying an additional 836,179 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of FMC by 2.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 858,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,385,000 after buying an additional 17,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of FMC by 9.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 721,879 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,543,000 after acquiring an additional 64,055 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $49.11 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.96. FMC has a 12-month low of $49.05 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The stock has a market cap of $6.13 billion, a PE ratio of 4.23, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a net margin of 34.93% and a return on equity of 7.68%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.72%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

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.