Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 390 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 390 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in FMC were worth $1,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in FMC by 27.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,151,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343,615 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its position in FMC by 2,129.4% during the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 440,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,037,000 after purchasing an additional 420,601 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in FMC by 2,531.3% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 253,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,695,000 after acquiring an additional 243,557 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in FMC by 139.6% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 187,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,333,000 after acquiring an additional 108,978 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new stake in FMC during the third quarter valued at about $6,904,000. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC stock opened at $36.46 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.05. The company has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $33.80 and a 12-month high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. Analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. FMC’s payout ratio is 85.29%.

Insider Activity at FMC

In other news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on FMC. Mizuho decreased their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their price target on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.00.

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.