Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires New Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 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 acquiring an additional 1,343,615 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in FMC by 317.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,099,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,160,000 after purchasing an additional 836,179 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in FMC in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,191,000. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 2,129.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 440,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,037,000 after buying an additional 420,601 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of FMC by 116.8% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 555,095 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,946,000 after buying an additional 299,097 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of FMC stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,709,485.83. The trade was 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Citigroup decreased their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $50.15 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 4.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.80. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $47.73 and a 12-month high of $68.72. 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 (NYSE:FMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a net margin of 34.93% and a return on equity of 7.68%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. FMC’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.63%. FMC’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

FMC 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.