StockNews.com Downgrades FMC (NYSE:FMC) to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on FMC. KeyCorp decreased their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group cut FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho cut their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.23.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC stock opened at $38.30 on Friday. FMC has a 12-month low of $33.80 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.76. The stock has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.84.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. As a group, analysts expect that FMC will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FMC news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commerce Bank lifted its stake in FMC by 3.7% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC lifted its stake in FMC by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 6,193 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in FMC by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in FMC by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in FMC by 90.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.