Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 17,487 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) by 8.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 217,734 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 17,487 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.17% of FMC worth $10,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of FMC during the third quarter worth approximately $285,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 310,378 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $20,465,000 after buying an additional 45,752 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co bought a new position in FMC in the 3rd quarter valued at $205,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of FMC in the 3rd quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of FMC by 82.9% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 49,892 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,290,000 after acquiring an additional 22,612 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on FMC shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of FMC from $51.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Mizuho set a $46.00 target price on shares of FMC in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price target on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded FMC from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $50.31.

FMC Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of FMC traded up $0.53 on Friday, hitting $37.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,140,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,039,499. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $38.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.78. FMC Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $68.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.83.

FMC (NYSE:FMC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The basic materials company reported $1.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.14. FMC had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 9.67%. On average, equities research analysts expect that FMC Co. will post 3.48 EPS for the current year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.14%. FMC's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.29%.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In other news, insider Ronaldo Pereira purchased 5,600 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $35.77 per share, with a total value of $200,312.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,837 shares in the company, valued at $1,746,899.49. The trade was a 12.95 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,407,107. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.