Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) by 483.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,347 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 34,256 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in FMC were worth $1,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanders Morris Harris LLC acquired a new position in shares of FMC during the first quarter valued at $253,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in FMC by 31.4% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 296,085 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,492,000 after purchasing an additional 70,815 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp grew its position in shares of FMC by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 15,216 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $642,000 after buying an additional 2,225 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI bought a new position in shares of FMC during the 1st quarter worth approximately $554,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of FMC by 174.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,351 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FMC Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE FMC traded up $0.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $42.80. 2,590,782 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,032,861. FMC Co. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $68.55. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.76.

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

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.42%. 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 analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised shares of FMC from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $49.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded FMC from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of FMC from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of FMC from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $49.46.

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.