Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 699 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,053 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 699 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in FMC were worth $697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of FMC in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new position in shares of FMC during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 143.1% in the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in FMC by 50.0% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer purchased 2,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,966,211.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on FMC from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Roth Mkm began coverage on FMC in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of FMC from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group upgraded shares of FMC from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $61.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.75.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC stock opened at $57.80 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.10. FMC Co. has a 12 month low of $49.49 and a 12 month high of $124.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.49, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.87.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. FMC had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 29.45%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that FMC Co. will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.