Groupama Asset Managment Purchases New Position in Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. $FMX

Key Points

• Groupama Asset Management has acquired a new stake in Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. by purchasing 8,244 shares, worth approximately $825,000, indicating growing institutional interest in the company.
• Equities research analysts have mixed views on the stock, with Barclays lowering its target price to $107.00 and UBS raising it to $115.00, while generally maintaining an "equal weight" or "hold" rating.
• Fomento Economico Mexicano recently announced an increased dividend of $1.3625 per share, reflecting a significant boost from its previous dividend, with a payout ratio of 74.83%.

Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:FMX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 8,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $825,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Fomento Economico Mexicano in the 1st quarter worth $207,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 29.3% in the 1st quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 26,359 shares of the company's stock worth $2,572,000 after buying an additional 5,977 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,778 shares of the company's stock worth $1,344,000 after buying an additional 2,795 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 28,135 shares of the company's stock worth $2,405,000 after buying an additional 4,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 27,873.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,047,000 after purchasing an additional 20,905 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FMX. Wall Street Zen lowered Fomento Economico Mexicano from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Fomento Economico Mexicano from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $97.00 price objective (down previously from $132.00) on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Fomento Economico Mexicano from $110.00 to $107.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $105.16.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE FMX traded down $0.38 on Tuesday, hitting $87.73. 116,398 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 663,964. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.34. Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. has a 52-week low of $81.07 and a 52-week high of $108.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a P/E/G ratio of 5.20 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $95.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.41.

Fomento Economico Mexicano (NYSE:FMX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.49). Fomento Economico Mexicano had a return on equity of 5.32% and a net margin of 2.60%.The firm had revenue of $11.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $216.71 billion. Research analysts forecast that Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. will post 5.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a -- dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 17th were paid a dividend of $1.3625 per share. This is a positive change from Fomento Economico Mexicano's previous -- dividend of $0.73. This represents a dividend yield of 200.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 17th. Fomento Economico Mexicano's payout ratio is currently 74.83%.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Company Profile

Fomento Económico Mexicano, SAB. de C.V., through its subsidiaries, operates as a bottler of Coca-Cola trademark beverages. The company produces, markets, and distributes Coca-Cola trademark beverages in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.