FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.75.

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on FMC from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of FMC from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas cut shares of FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Roth Mkm began coverage on FMC in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Activity at FMC

In other FMC news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer acquired 2,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.22 per share, for a total transaction of $127,323.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at $2,966,211.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of FMC by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in FMC by 99.4% in the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in FMC in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quilter Plc purchased a new stake in shares of FMC during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, High Net Worth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of FMC during the first quarter worth $60,000. 91.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $56.75 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.59. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.39, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.87. FMC has a 12-month low of $49.49 and a 12-month high of $125.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. FMC had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 29.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that FMC will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.03%.

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.