FMC (NYSE:FMC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of FMC (NYSE:FMC) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $50.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $41.00.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on FMC. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of FMC from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FMC from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on FMC from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho raised FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.15.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC stock opened at $42.93 on Monday. FMC has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $68.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.85 and its 200 day moving average is $43.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.39, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.76.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.10. FMC had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 7.97%. The firm had revenue of $791.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $783.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FMC will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in FMC by 2.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 28,059 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FMC during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,573,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 560.3% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 12,713 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in FMC during the fourth quarter worth about $49,888,000. Finally, Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of FMC during the 4th quarter worth approximately $364,000. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.