AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 774,366 Shares of FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC)

AQR Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) by 73.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 278,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 774,366 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.22% of FMC worth $13,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FMC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FMC by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,291,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $743,338,000 after acquiring an additional 180,766 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in FMC by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,375,911 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $212,714,000 after buying an additional 321,241 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in FMC by 37.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,559,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $173,008,000 after buying an additional 977,110 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in FMC by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995,691 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $145,452,000 after acquiring an additional 54,017 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in FMC by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,286,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $111,131,000 after acquiring an additional 707,727 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FMC opened at $35.88 on Tuesday. FMC Co. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $68.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.95.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.10. FMC had a return on equity of 9.67% and a net margin of 8.03%. The business had revenue of $791.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $783.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that FMC Co. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FMC Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. FMC’s payout ratio is currently 88.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FMC

In other FMC news, insider Ronaldo Pereira bought 5,600 shares of FMC stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $35.77 per share, with a total value of $200,312.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 48,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,746,899.49. This trade represents a 12.95 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Carol Anthony Davidson purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $37.33 per share, with a total value of $223,980.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $223,980. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on FMC. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on FMC from $70.00 to $46.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded FMC from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Vertical Research upgraded FMC to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho upgraded shares of FMC from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of FMC from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $78.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.46.

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.