FMC (NYSE:FMC) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of FMC in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a buy rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of FMC from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of FMC from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $84.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $71.75.

FMC Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:FMC traded down $1.54 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $62.22. 1,616,751 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,030,533. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $58.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.65. FMC has a 52-week low of $49.49 and a 52-week high of $125.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.87.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company 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 company earned $2.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FMC will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. FMC's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer bought 2,150 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at $2,966,211.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of FMC

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FMC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,521,787 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $915,599,000 after purchasing an additional 176,978 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of FMC by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,547,766 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $791,137,000 after buying an additional 1,666,096 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of FMC by 2.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,637,405 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,421,276,000 after buying an additional 228,436 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of FMC by 1.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,683,520 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $697,341,000 after purchasing an additional 101,627 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of FMC by 210.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,745,695 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $236,167,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537,717 shares during the period. 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.