Principal Street Partners LLC Takes $1.31 Million Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Principal Street Partners LLC acquired a new stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 26,892 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,307,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FMC. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in FMC during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 217.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of FMC during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of FMC by 65.3% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 959 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in FMC by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 990 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ronaldo Pereira acquired 5,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $35.77 per share, for a total transaction of $200,312.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 48,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,746,899.49. This represents a 12.95% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Carol Anthony Davidson purchased 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $37.33 per share, with a total value of $223,980.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $223,980. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of FMC stock traded up $0.23 on Friday, hitting $38.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,148,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,059,101. The company has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.80. FMC Co. has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $68.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.10. FMC had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. The company had revenue of $791.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $783.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.07%. FMC's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FMC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered FMC from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho upgraded shares of FMC from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of FMC from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of FMC from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.46.

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.