Royal Bank of Canada Raises Holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 637,815 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 82,950 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.51% of FMC worth $31,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of FMC by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 310,378 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $20,465,000 after purchasing an additional 45,752 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of FMC by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,024 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in FMC in the 4th quarter valued at $345,000. Hedges Asset Management LLC grew its stake in FMC by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Hedges Asset Management LLC now owns 20,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $972,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in FMC by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,909 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at FMC

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

FMC Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of FMC traded up $0.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.09. The stock had a trading volume of 1,577,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,057,175. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. FMC Co. has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $68.55. The business's fifty day moving average is $38.84 and its 200 day moving average is $45.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.80.

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

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. FMC's dividend payout ratio is currently 88.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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, February 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of FMC from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.46.

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.