Natixis Purchases 45,898 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Natixis lifted its position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 347.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,898 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in FMC were worth $2,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in FMC in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,888,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in FMC by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,559,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $173,008,000 after acquiring an additional 977,110 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,286,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,131,000 after purchasing an additional 707,727 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of FMC by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,088,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,509,000 after purchasing an additional 685,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its position in FMC by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 1,861,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,466,000 after buying an additional 241,582 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup increased their price objective on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America reiterated 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of FMC from $51.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FMC currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.69.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In related news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,407,107. This trade represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carol Anthony Davidson bought 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $37.33 per share, for a total transaction of $223,980.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $223,980. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC stock opened at $38.12 on Tuesday. FMC Co. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $68.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.50.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. As a group, research analysts forecast that FMC Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is 85.29%.

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.