Short Interest in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Rises By 9.4%

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,310,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the November 30th total of 5,770,000 shares. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days.

FMC Trading Up 0.3 %

FMC traded up $0.16 on Tuesday, reaching $48.61. 1,387,884 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,655,065. 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 company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.54. FMC has a one year low of $47.71 and a one year high of $68.72.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FMC will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

FMC Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. FMC's dividend payout ratio is currently 19.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FMC

In other news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.67, for a total value of $270,245.43. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,709,485.83. The trade was a 13.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of FMC

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commerce Bank increased its position in FMC by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 5,135 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its holdings in FMC by 3.1% during the second quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 6,465 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in FMC by 90.8% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 517 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in FMC by 24.3% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,326 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 5.9% during the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,747 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FMC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on FMC from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group decreased their price target on FMC from $75.00 to $66.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.69.

About FMC

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.