Erste Asset Management GmbH Takes Position in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 27,600 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,824,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barnett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of FMC in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,265,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 27.8% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,483 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,867,000 after purchasing an additional 9,449 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 483.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 34,781 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,216,000 after purchasing an additional 28,823 shares during the period. tru Independence LLC purchased a new position in shares of FMC in the third quarter valued at $5,323,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of FMC by 87.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,662 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 8,238 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total transaction of $270,245.43. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This trade represents a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FMC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of FMC in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FMC presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.00.

FMC Stock Performance

NYSE FMC traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $59.01. The company had a trading volume of 980,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,652,865. FMC Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.03 and a fifty-two week high of $68.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.49. The firm has a market cap of $7.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.80.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.35 EPS 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.