Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Cuts Stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank cut its holdings in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 185,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 29,662 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in FMC were worth $11,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FMC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in FMC during the fourth quarter valued at $215,051,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in FMC by 17.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,881,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $728,745,000 after buying an additional 1,634,535 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in FMC by 80.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,557,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,205,000 after buying an additional 1,142,531 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC increased its holdings in FMC by 58.9% in the third quarter. Manning & Napier Group LLC now owns 2,249,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $150,658,000 after buying an additional 833,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in FMC by 175.2% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 835,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $55,978,000 after buying an additional 532,158 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FMC news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer bought 2,150 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $59.22 per share, for a total transaction of $127,323.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,088 shares in the company, valued at $2,966,211.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC stock opened at $57.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.26. 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 Co. has a one year low of $49.49 and a one year high of $124.61. The firm has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.87.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.08 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. FMC had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 29.45%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.01%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of FMC from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $61.00 to $84.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of FMC from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of FMC from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of FMC from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.75.

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.