FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) Short Interest Update

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,330,000 shares, a decrease of 9.2% from the August 31st total of 6,970,000 shares. Currently, 5.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days.

FMC Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE FMC opened at $65.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.36, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.85. FMC has a one year low of $49.49 and a one year high of $68.72. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The basic materials company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. FMC had a net margin of 33.97% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that FMC will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on FMC shares. Redburn Atlantic upgraded FMC from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on FMC from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of FMC from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.47.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in FMC by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,547,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $791,137,000 after purchasing an additional 1,666,096 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of FMC by 35.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,061,828 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $322,439,000 after buying an additional 1,316,133 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of FMC by 317.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,099,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,160,000 after acquiring an additional 836,179 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in FMC by 5.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,290,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $973,987,000 after acquiring an additional 768,432 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in FMC during the 1st quarter valued at $37,686,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Company 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.