Auto Owners Insurance Co Sells 35,152 Shares of FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC)

Auto Owners Insurance Co decreased its position in FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) by 7.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 414,848 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 35,152 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co owned about 0.33% of FMC worth $17,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of FMC in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,888,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 37.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,559,107 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $173,008,000 after buying an additional 977,110 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $111,131,000 after buying an additional 707,727 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 327.3% in 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. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in FMC by 762.4% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 484,040 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $23,529,000 after acquiring an additional 427,915 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FMC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded FMC from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on FMC from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on FMC from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised FMC from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on FMC from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.15.

FMC Trading Up 2.3%

FMC stock traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.26. 1,146,569 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,369,217. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.77. FMC Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $68.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $41.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.91.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 7.97%. The firm had revenue of $791.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $783.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that FMC Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. FMC's dividend payout ratio is 88.55%.

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.