abrdn plc Purchases 18,335 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 341,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 18,335 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in FMC were worth $21,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cable Hill Partners LLC increased its stake in FMC by 5.1% in the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 3,696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH lifted its holdings in FMC by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 5,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in FMC by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 56,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,779,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in FMC by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in FMC by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on FMC from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Loop Capital upped their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho dropped their price target on FMC from $59.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of FMC in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of FMC from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Sandifer acquired 2,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $59.22 per share, with a total value of $127,323.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 50,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,966,211.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $58.65 on Wednesday. FMC Co. has a 12 month low of $49.49 and a 12 month high of $124.61. The firm has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of 5.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.10.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.01). FMC had a return on equity of 12.98% and a net margin of 29.45%. 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 earned $2.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. FMC’s payout ratio is 22.03%.

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.