Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 7,298 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 211,296 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,298 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.17% of FMC worth $12,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in FMC by 56.9% during the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in FMC during the 2nd quarter worth $130,000. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. lifted its holdings in FMC by 83.4% during the 2nd quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 424,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,436,000 after buying an additional 193,125 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,649 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 4,046 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC opened at $60.27 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.05. FMC Co. has a 1 year low of $49.49 and a 1 year high of $81.50. The company has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. FMC had a return on equity of 7.52% and a net margin of 33.97%. FMC’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.58 dividend. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic raised FMC from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays increased their price target on FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. KeyCorp cut their price target on FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on FMC from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FMC has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.63.

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.