FMC (NYSE:FMC) Upgraded at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $61.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $63.00.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FMC. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group cut their target price on FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Mizuho lowered their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FMC has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.25.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $53.50 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. FMC has a 52 week low of $47.71 and a 52 week high of $68.72. The stock has a market cap of $6.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.60, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.83.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a net margin of 34.93% and a return on equity of 7.68%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that FMC will post 3.34 EPS for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s payout ratio is 19.97%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of FMC stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total transaction of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. The trade was a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FMC

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millburn Ridgefield Corp raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 186.2% in the third quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp now owns 498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in FMC by 90.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in FMC by 250.6% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FMC during the third quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of FMC during the third quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

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.