IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Sells 7,611 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,611 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in FMC were worth $2,616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of FMC by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,291,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $743,338,000 after buying an additional 180,766 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in FMC by 27.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,271,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,151,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,615 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in FMC by 48.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,088,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $101,509,000 after acquiring an additional 685,995 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in FMC by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,164,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,602,000 after purchasing an additional 28,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of FMC by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 589,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,634,000 after purchasing an additional 46,137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FMC news, EVP Michael Finian Reilly sold 2,958 shares of FMC stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,407,107. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ronaldo Pereira purchased 5,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $35.77 per share, for a total transaction of $200,312.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,746,899.49. This represents a 12.95 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Vertical Research raised FMC to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut FMC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on FMC from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “cautious” rating on shares of FMC in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FMC in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FMC currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.15.

FMC Trading Up 2.2 %

FMC opened at $42.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $43.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.08. FMC Co. has a one year low of $33.80 and a one year high of $68.72. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93.

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

FMC Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.58 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.51%. FMC’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.29%.

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.