FMC Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.58 (NYSE:FMC)

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 28th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.58 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%.

FMC has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years. FMC has a payout ratio of 55.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect FMC to earn $3.95 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.7%.

FMC Price Performance

FMC stock traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $36.87. The company had a trading volume of 2,928,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,938,329. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.84. FMC has a 12-month low of $33.80 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share 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 analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on FMC. UBS Group downgraded shares of FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (down previously from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of FMC stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,107. This trade represents a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.