HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 3,610 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,329 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,610 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in FMC were worth $485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in FMC by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,136,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,931,000 after buying an additional 20,350 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FMC by 317.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,099,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,160,000 after acquiring an additional 836,179 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 858,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,385,000 after purchasing an additional 17,381 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in FMC by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 721,879 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,543,000 after purchasing an additional 64,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New South Capital Management Inc. raised its position in FMC by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. now owns 665,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,915,000 after purchasing an additional 9,834 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on FMC. Mizuho upped their target price on FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FMC news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This trade represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

FMC Trading Up 4.8 %

Shares of NYSE:FMC opened at $50.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 4.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.80. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $47.73 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.88.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. FMC had a net margin of 34.93% and a return on equity of 7.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. FMC’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

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.