ING Groep NV Acquires 36,856 Shares of FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC)

Key Points

• ING Groep NV significantly increased its stake in FMC Corporation, boosting its holdings by 231.2% and owning 52,800 shares valued at $2.2 million by the end of the 1st quarter.
• FMC Corporation reported earnings of $0.69 per share, surpassing estimates, and generated revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, reflecting a 1.2% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.58, indicating a high dividend yield of 6.1%, with a payout ratio of 290%, which suggests a strong continuation of shareholder returns.

ING Groep NV lifted its stake in shares of FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) by 231.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 52,800 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 36,856 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV's holdings in FMC were worth $2,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in FMC by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,375,911 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $212,714,000 after purchasing an additional 321,241 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 977,110 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in FMC by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995,691 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $145,452,000 after purchasing an additional 54,017 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake 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 worth $111,131,000 after purchasing an additional 707,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in FMC by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,926,284 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $93,637,000 after purchasing an additional 71,929 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company's stock.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of FMC stock traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.74. 1,837,723 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,816,506. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.67, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a current ratio of 1.53. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $41.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.10. FMC Corporation has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $67.75.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $995.15 million. FMC had a net margin of 2.42% and a return on equity of 9.36%. The firm's revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FMC Corporation will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. FMC's payout ratio is presently 290.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FMC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of FMC from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FMC from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FMC from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of FMC from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of FMC from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $50.38.

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.