Hedges Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Hedges Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 25.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Hedges Asset Management LLC’s holdings in FMC were worth $972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FMC. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FMC during the 4th quarter valued at about $345,000. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in FMC by 37.9% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 12,546 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $610,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in FMC by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 227,328 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,050,000 after purchasing an additional 39,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of FMC by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 164,887 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,015,000 after purchasing an additional 14,197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

FMC Price Performance

FMC opened at $55.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.79, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $47.71 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.95.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.97%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of FMC from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $63.00 to $61.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.25.

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.