FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Short Interest Up 17.9% in March

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,250,000 shares, an increase of 17.9% from the February 29th total of 6,150,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 5.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at FMC

In other FMC news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer bought 2,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.22 per share, for a total transaction of $127,323.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,966,211.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FMC

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manning & Napier Group LLC increased its position in shares of FMC by 58.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in FMC by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,764,469 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $118,166,000 after buying an additional 484,500 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings 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 valued at $950,000 after buying an additional 1,889 shares in the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of FMC during the 3rd quarter valued at $664,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of FMC by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 61,591 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company's stock.

FMC Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:FMC traded up $1.00 during trading on Friday, hitting $63.70. 2,017,951 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,232,683. FMC has a 52 week low of $49.49 and a 52 week high of $125.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $58.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.20.

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

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. FMC's payout ratio is 22.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FMC has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on FMC from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. BNP Paribas lowered FMC from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group upgraded FMC from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $61.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on FMC in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on FMC from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.56.

FMC Company Profile

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.