Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 32,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,366,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in FMC by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,164,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,602,000 after acquiring an additional 28,059 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in FMC in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,573,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in FMC by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 3,416 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in FMC by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 14,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in FMC in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,888,000. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Stock Performance

Shares of FMC opened at $44.07 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.72 and a 200 day moving average of $44.31. FMC Co. has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $68.55.

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

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. FMC’s payout ratio is 88.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho upgraded FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered FMC from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on FMC from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Redburn Atlantic downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on FMC from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.46.

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.