FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Receives $71.75 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.75.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FMC. UBS Group upgraded FMC from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on FMC from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded FMC from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas cut FMC from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on FMC in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC traded down $4.79 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.75. 2,007,136 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,895,065. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.54. FMC has a 12 month low of $49.49 and a 12 month high of $125.20. The stock has a market cap of $7.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). FMC had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 29.45%. The firm had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.37 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. FMC's payout ratio is currently 22.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer bought 2,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at $2,966,211.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH increased its stake in FMC by 67.3% in the 4th quarter. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH now owns 118,531 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,473,000 after purchasing an additional 47,697 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in FMC by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 115,182 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,262,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC increased its stake in FMC by 58.9% in the 3rd quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,249,633 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $150,658,000 after purchasing an additional 833,845 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in FMC by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,764,469 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $118,166,000 after purchasing an additional 484,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in FMC by 15.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 14,195 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $950,000 after purchasing an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.