FMC (NYSE:FMC) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $60.18, but opened at $63.50. FMC shares last traded at $66.11, with a volume of 305,271 shares traded.

The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a return on equity of 7.52% and a net margin of 33.97%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FMC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on FMC from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on FMC from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised FMC from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FMC presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 13,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $875,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc purchased a new position in FMC in the third quarter valued at about $681,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of FMC by 13.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 2,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FMC during the third quarter valued at about $2,989,000. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of FMC by 26.7% during the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $621,000 after acquiring an additional 2,129 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Stock Up 10.7 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $63.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.85.

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.