Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 58.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,197 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in FMC were worth $289,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FMC. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in FMC by 126.3% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 4,143 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in FMC during the fourth quarter worth $54,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in FMC by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $655,000 after buying an additional 2,521 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of FMC by 98.7% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 59,036 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,722,000 after acquiring an additional 29,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 205.3% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 33,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,082,000 after acquiring an additional 22,202 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Stock Performance

NYSE:FMC opened at $63.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.07. FMC Co. has a 1-year low of $49.49 and a 1-year high of $75.89. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.57.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.08. FMC had a net margin of 33.97% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. FMC’s payout ratio is 25.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on FMC shares. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Redburn Atlantic raised FMC from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on FMC from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.63.

FMC 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.