ARGA Investment Management LP Invests $363,000 in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

ARGA Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 7,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $363,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millburn Ridgefield Corp lifted its position in shares of FMC by 186.2% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in FMC by 90.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted 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 valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in FMC in the third quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of FMC during the third quarter worth about $52,000. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FMC Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of FMC stock opened at $54.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $6.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84. FMC Co. has a 52-week low of $47.71 and a 52-week high of $68.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.85.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.97%.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In other FMC news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president now owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total value of $163,429.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. This trade represents a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,491 shares of company stock valued at $433,898 in the last ninety days. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FMC. UBS Group decreased 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. Citigroup increased their price objective on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of FMC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.75.

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.