FMC (NYSE:FMC) Trading Up 7% Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)’s stock price shot up 7% during trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $65.38 and last traded at $65.23. 585,349 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 1,910,481 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.98.

The basic materials company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $918.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. FMC had a net margin of 29.45% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 31.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.77 EPS.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 18th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. FMC’s payout ratio is 22.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FMC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of FMC from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered FMC from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho raised their price target on FMC from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America downgraded shares of FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on FMC from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.88.

Insider Activity at FMC

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer bought 2,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at $2,966,211.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FMC

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in FMC by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,521,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $915,599,000 after buying an additional 176,978 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of FMC by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,547,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $791,137,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666,096 shares during the period. Tweedy Browne Co LLC grew its stake in FMC by 105.1% in the 4th quarter. Tweedy Browne Co LLC now owns 2,961,857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $186,745,000 after buying an additional 1,518,053 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in FMC by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,428,010 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $153,030,000 after purchasing an additional 53,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of FMC by 7.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,340,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,762,000 after buying an additional 169,224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Trading Up 7.6 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $60.43 and its 200 day moving average is $57.79. The company has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of 6.23, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

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.