Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Increases Stake in FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) by 777.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,800 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 52,100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System's holdings in FMC were worth $2,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in FMC by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 59,771 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,905,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its position in FMC by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 59,052 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,871,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in FMC by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 54,754 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,662,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in FMC by 66.6% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,006 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in FMC by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 7,766 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company's stock.

FMC Stock Down 1.0%

FMC stock traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 497,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,030,177. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $41.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.12. FMC Corporation has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $68.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.77.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.10. FMC had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 7.97%. The company had revenue of $791.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $783.70 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that FMC Corporation will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 16th. Stockholders 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 5.55%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. FMC's payout ratio is 88.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FMC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on FMC from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on FMC from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Mizuho raised FMC from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised FMC from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $51.15.

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.