BNP Paribas Financial Markets Purchases 108,978 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 139.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 187,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 108,978 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.15% of FMC worth $12,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank lifted its position in shares of FMC by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 45,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,918,000 after purchasing an additional 8,562 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in FMC by 483.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 34,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,216,000 after buying an additional 28,823 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its position in FMC by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 35,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 9,574 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of FMC by 87.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after acquiring an additional 8,238 shares during the period. Finally, Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of FMC in the 2nd quarter worth $250,000. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total transaction of $270,245.43. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FMC opened at $59.09 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.58. The stock has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.09, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. FMC Co. has a 12 month low of $50.03 and a 12 month high of $68.72.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FMC shares. Barclays lifted their target price on FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on FMC in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FMC presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.00.

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.