Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 46,137 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC - Free Report) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 589,054 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 46,137 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.47% of FMC worth $28,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 27.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $417,151,000 after buying an additional 1,343,615 shares in the last quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 2,129.4% in the third quarter. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP now owns 440,353 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $29,037,000 after buying an additional 420,601 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 2,531.3% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 253,179 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,695,000 after buying an additional 243,557 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of FMC by 139.6% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 187,028 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $12,333,000 after buying an additional 108,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new position in shares of FMC in the third quarter worth approximately $6,904,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company's stock.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC traded up $1.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,331,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,996,575. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. FMC Co. has a one year low of $33.80 and a one year high of $68.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.84. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $49.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.39.

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, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that FMC Co. will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. FMC's payout ratio is 85.29%.

Insider Activity at FMC

In related news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of FMC stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.25, for a total transaction of $163,429.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,468 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of FMC from $70.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of FMC from $62.00 to $50.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group downgraded shares of FMC from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of FMC from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Vertical Research upgraded shares of FMC to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FMC has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $52.23.

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.