Royal Bank Of Canada Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for FMC (NYSE:FMC) Stock

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) had its price target raised by Royal Bank Of Canada from $40.00 to $47.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the basic materials company's stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their price target on FMC from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FMC from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a "buy" rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of FMC from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on FMC from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $50.54.

FMC Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:FMC traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $42.46. 659,212 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,028,409. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. FMC has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $68.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.20, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.77.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $791.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $783.70 million. FMC had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 9.12%. FMC's revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that FMC will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders 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 5.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. FMC's payout ratio is 88.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FMC

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FMC. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FMC by 1,199.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,621,496 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $151,071,000 after buying an additional 3,342,888 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in FMC by 286.0% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,494,377 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $189,618,000 after buying an additional 3,329,974 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in FMC during the fourth quarter worth about $49,888,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in FMC by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,559,107 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $173,008,000 after buying an additional 977,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in FMC by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,286,177 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $111,131,000 after buying an additional 707,727 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.