FMC’s (FMC) Underperform Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

FMC (NYSE:FMC)‘s stock had its “underperform” rating reissued by stock analysts at Bank of America in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $48.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $61.00. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 34.21% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays upgraded FMC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FMC has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $57.62.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC stock traded down $18.28 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $35.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,148,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,860,776. FMC has a one year low of $34.00 and a one year high of $68.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.48. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Insider Activity at FMC

In other news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total transaction of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This represents a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,407,107. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,491 shares of company stock valued at $433,898 over the last 90 days. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FMC. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in FMC during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Millburn Ridgefield Corp raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 186.2% during the third quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp now owns 498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of FMC by 90.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of FMC by 250.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in FMC by 65.3% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% 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.