FMC (NYSE:FMC) Downgraded by Royal Bank of Canada to Sector Perform

Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has $47.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $78.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of FMC from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $63.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays upgraded FMC from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp reduced their price target on FMC from $79.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.62.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $36.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.48. FMC has a fifty-two week low of $34.00 and a fifty-two week high of $68.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.69. The company has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.84.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of FMC

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in FMC by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,151,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,615 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in FMC by 48.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,088,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $101,509,000 after purchasing an additional 685,995 shares during the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its position in FMC by 2,129.4% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 440,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,037,000 after buying an additional 420,601 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in FMC by 2,531.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 253,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,695,000 after buying an additional 243,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in FMC by 139.6% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 187,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,333,000 after buying an additional 108,978 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

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.