StockNews.com Downgrades FMC (NYSE:FMC) to Sell

FMC (NYSE:FMC) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on FMC. UBS Group upgraded FMC from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Bank of America lowered FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on FMC in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on FMC from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on FMC from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.75.

FMC Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of FMC stock traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $56.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,458,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,995,429. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.52. FMC has a twelve month low of $49.49 and a twelve month high of $124.61. The company has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.31.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). FMC had a net margin of 29.45% and a return on equity of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FMC will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer purchased 2,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,966,211.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FMC

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in FMC by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,826 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in FMC by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,715,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in FMC by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC raised its stake in FMC by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $450,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in FMC by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.