Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Raises Stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 739 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in FMC were worth $380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its stake in shares of FMC by 14.8% during the third quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 6,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 859 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 118.4% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 58,752 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,874,000 after buying an additional 31,850 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of FMC by 80.1% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of FMC by 105.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 48,888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,224,000 after acquiring an additional 25,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FMC by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,136,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,931,000 after acquiring an additional 20,350 shares during the last quarter. 91.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FMC has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Insider Activity at FMC

In other FMC news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 28,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This trade represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

FMC Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of FMC stock opened at $59.09 on Friday. FMC Co. has a one year low of $50.03 and a one year high of $68.72. The company has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.09, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.62.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a net margin of 34.93% and a return on equity of 7.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that FMC Co. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

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.