Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Purchases 1,888 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,093 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,888 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FMC were worth $1,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FMC. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FMC during the first quarter worth about $191,000. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new stake in FMC in the first quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Prudential PLC bought a new stake in FMC in the first quarter valued at approximately $383,000. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in FMC by 872,245.0% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 174,469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,955,000 after acquiring an additional 174,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FMC by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,067,888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,850,913,000 after acquiring an additional 258,552 shares during the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Loop Capital upped their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Bank of America cut FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $60.00 to $57.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group upgraded FMC from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $61.00 to $84.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. KeyCorp upped their target price on FMC from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on FMC from $59.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.75.

Insider Activity at FMC

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer purchased 2,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,966,211.36. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FMC opened at $56.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. FMC Co. has a twelve month low of $49.49 and a twelve month high of $125.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $58.61 and its 200-day moving average is $58.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.39, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.87.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). FMC had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 29.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that FMC Co. will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. FMC’s payout ratio is currently 22.03%.

FMC 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.