Tower Bridge Advisors Purchases Shares of 5,049 FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Tower Bridge Advisors acquired a new position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FMC. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in FMC by 356.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 4,008 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 3,129 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP lifted its holdings in FMC by 108.6% in the fourth quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 14,809 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 7,709 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in FMC in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,505,000. Convergence Financial LLC grew its position in FMC by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. Convergence Financial LLC now owns 11,599 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 1,786 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in FMC by 48.9% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 685,995 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FMC. UBS Group cut shares of FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup increased their price target on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Vertical Research raised FMC to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FMC has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.23.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $36.87 on Friday. FMC Co. has a one year low of $33.80 and a one year high of $68.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.55, a PEG ratio of 1.90 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. On average, equities research analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.29%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 85.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total value of $163,429.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% 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.