Verity Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in FMC by 36.9% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 35,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after buying an additional 9,574 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of FMC by 483.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 34,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,216,000 after acquiring an additional 28,823 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of FMC during the 1st quarter worth approximately $21,995,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of FMC in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC lifted its stake in FMC by 13.3% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 2,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lowered their target price on FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of FMC from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays started coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of FMC from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FMC currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.82.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of FMC stock traded down $2.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.19. The company had a trading volume of 2,401,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,853,288. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $57.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. FMC Co. has a 52 week low of $49.49 and a 52 week high of $94.07.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.08. FMC had a net margin of 33.97% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. FMC’s payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

FMC 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.