44,958 Shares in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Purchased by Fisher Funds Management LTD

Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 44,958 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,164,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of FMC by 27.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $417,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,615 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its stake in FMC by 2,129.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 440,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,037,000 after purchasing an additional 420,601 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of FMC by 2,531.3% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 253,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,695,000 after buying an additional 243,557 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of FMC by 139.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 187,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,333,000 after buying an additional 108,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the third quarter valued at about $6,904,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,407,107. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on FMC shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Redburn Atlantic lowered FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (down previously from $61.00) on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Vertical Research raised FMC to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.23.

FMC Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE FMC opened at $38.30 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $47.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.73. FMC Co. has a 12 month low of $33.80 and a 12 month high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

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

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.