KBC Group NV Reduces Stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

KBC Group NV reduced its position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 36.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 22,342 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,726 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in FMC were worth $1,086,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp lifted its position in FMC by 186.2% during the third quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp now owns 498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in FMC by 90.8% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in FMC by 250.6% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in FMC during the third quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in FMC during the third quarter valued at $52,000. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FMC news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the business’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 sale, the vice president now directly 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,491 shares of company stock valued at $433,898 over the last ninety days. 0.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FMC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised FMC from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $63.00 to $61.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued 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 $63.75.

FMC Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of FMC stock opened at $55.68 on Friday. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $47.71 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $53.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.83.

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. FMC’s payout ratio is currently 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.