FMC’s (FMC) Underperform Rating Reiterated at Bank of America

Bank of America reiterated their underperform rating on shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $48.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $61.00.

FMC has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays upgraded FMC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FMC has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC stock opened at $34.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.48. FMC has a fifty-two week low of $33.80 and a fifty-two week high of $68.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.37. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.97, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. On average, analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.72%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.29%.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In other FMC news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,107. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,709,485.83. This trade represents a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,491 shares of company stock valued at $433,898 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in FMC by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $417,151,000 after buying an additional 1,343,615 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of FMC by 48.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,088,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $101,509,000 after acquiring an additional 685,995 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of FMC by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,164,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,602,000 after acquiring an additional 28,059 shares during the last quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 1.5% in the third quarter. New South Capital Management Inc. now owns 665,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,915,000 after acquiring an additional 9,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in FMC by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 589,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,634,000 after purchasing an additional 46,137 shares during the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.