Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 34,256 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 483.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 41,347 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,256 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in FMC were worth $1,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FMC. WP Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of FMC by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 6,193 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in FMC by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in FMC by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 990 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in FMC by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 36,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,761,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of FMC by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 59,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,905,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FMC shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on FMC from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays cut their target price on FMC from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Redburn Atlantic cut FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on FMC from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on FMC in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.46.

FMC Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:FMC opened at $42.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.60. FMC Co. has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $68.55.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $791.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $783.70 million. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.42%. FMC’s payout ratio is 88.55%.

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.