Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 1,892 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,987 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,892 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in FMC were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FMC. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of FMC by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC grew its stake in FMC by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 20,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in FMC in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $345,000. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in FMC by 37.9% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 12,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $610,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of FMC by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at FMC

In related news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total transaction of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,709,485.83. This 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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total value of $163,429.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,491 shares of company stock worth $433,898 in the last three months. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC stock opened at $56.45 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.95. FMC Co. has a twelve month low of $47.71 and a twelve month high of $68.72. The company has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a PE ratio of 4.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. FMC’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 EPS. Research analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FMC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded FMC from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.75.

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.