Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 46,137 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 589,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,137 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in FMC were worth $28,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in FMC by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of FMC by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 16,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $785,000 after acquiring an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of FMC by 103.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 38,560 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,874,000 after acquiring an additional 19,562 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in shares of FMC by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of FMC in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FMC has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

FMC Stock Down 0.2 %

FMC stock opened at $36.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.60. The company has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.47, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.84. FMC Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.80 and a fifty-two week high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. Equities analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.33%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.29%.

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.