Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 24,464 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 11.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 186,832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,464 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.15% of FMC worth $12,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 858,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,385,000 after buying an additional 17,381 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in FMC by 9.1% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $532,000 after acquiring an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of FMC by 56.9% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of FMC by 8.6% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of FMC during the second quarter worth approximately $60,000. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

FMC Stock Performance

NYSE FMC opened at $49.01 on Monday. FMC Co. has a fifty-two week low of $47.73 and a fifty-two week high of $68.72. The stock has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of 4.22, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.57.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. The business had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.73%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.97%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

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.