S&CO Inc. Acquires 12,193 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

S&CO Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 350,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,193 shares during the period. FMC accounts for about 1.5% of S&CO Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding. S&CO Inc. owned about 0.28% of FMC worth $23,135,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in FMC by 250.6% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of FMC during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of FMC by 56.9% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in FMC in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its holdings in FMC by 1,282.3% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 795 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on FMC. Barclays upped their target price on FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of FMC from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of FMC from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

FMC Stock Performance

FMC stock opened at $54.39 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. FMC Co. has a 12-month low of $50.03 and a 12-month high of $68.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.79 billion, a PE ratio of 4.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.85.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a return on equity of 7.68% and a net margin of 34.93%. The firm had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that FMC Co. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at FMC

In related news, VP Jacqueline Scanlan sold 4,529 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 28,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,709,485.83. This trade represents a 13.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company’s stock.

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.