Swiss National Bank Grows Stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Swiss National Bank lifted its position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 245,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in FMC were worth $11,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 18.7% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 60,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,970,000 after buying an additional 9,500 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted 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 worth $11,050,000 after buying an additional 39,230 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,483 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,867,000 after buying an additional 9,449 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank of Omaha boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 85.7% in the 3rd quarter. First National Bank of Omaha now owns 33,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,238,000 after buying an additional 15,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,164,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,602,000 after buying an additional 28,059 shares during the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FMC Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of FMC stock opened at $42.26 on Friday. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $33.80 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $44.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. Equities research analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.49%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.29%.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In other FMC news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Carol Anthony Davidson acquired 6,000 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $37.33 per share, for a total transaction of $223,980.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $223,980. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on FMC. Mizuho lowered their target price on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $66.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lowered their target price on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.15.

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.