Brokerages Set FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Price Target at $48.69

Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.92.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FMC shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on FMC from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays cut their price target on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on FMC in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of FMC from $51.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC stock opened at $41.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.41 and a 200 day moving average of $48.71. FMC has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FMC will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.56%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ronaldo Pereira acquired 5,600 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $35.77 per share, with a total value of $200,312.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 48,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,746,899.49. The trade was a 12.95 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carol Anthony Davidson acquired 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $37.33 per share, with a total value of $223,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $223,980. This trade represents a ? increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FMC

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the 4th quarter worth $49,888,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in FMC by 37.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,559,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $173,008,000 after purchasing an additional 977,110 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in FMC by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,286,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,131,000 after purchasing an additional 707,727 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in FMC by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,088,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $101,509,000 after purchasing an additional 685,995 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of FMC by 327.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 627,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,476,000 after buying an additional 480,691 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.