FMC (NYSE:FMC) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by UBS Group

UBS Group lowered shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $38.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $66.00.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FMC. Citigroup increased their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays upgraded FMC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Vertical Research upgraded shares of FMC to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

FMC Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:FMC opened at $34.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.84. FMC has a one year low of $33.80 and a one year high of $68.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $51.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. Analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.72%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.29%.

Insider Transactions 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 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 owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,709,485.83. The trade was a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,491 shares of company stock valued at $433,898. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in FMC by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in FMC by 122.1% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 6,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 3,735 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of FMC by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 577,962 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,095,000 after buying an additional 2,668 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in FMC by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 6,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in FMC by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 38,901 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,891,000 after purchasing an additional 2,402 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.