Employees Retirement System of Texas Lowers Position in Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. $FMX

Employees Retirement System of Texas cut its stake in Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:FMX) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 493,602 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,515 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano were worth $49,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 2,006.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 337 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 42.5% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 439 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 220.8% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 725 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 499 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 162.3% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 884 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano by 61.0% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on FMX. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from $113.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from $109.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.33.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FMX opened at $122.01 on Wednesday. Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. has a fifty-two week low of $83.08 and a fifty-two week high of $125.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $107.86. The company has a market capitalization of $42.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.16.

Fomento Economico Mexicano (NYSE:FMX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The company reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter. Fomento Economico Mexicano had a net margin of 3.40% and a return on equity of 7.33%. The business had revenue of $11.61 billion during the quarter. Analysts expect that Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were given a dividend of $0.6658 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Fomento Economico Mexicano’s dividend payout ratio is 53.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Garza Alfonso Garza sold 52,311 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.19, for a total transaction of $585,360.09. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,128,453 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,627,389.07. This represents a 4.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 261,575 shares of company stock worth $2,795,188. Corporate insiders own 5.68% of the company’s stock.

About Fomento Economico Mexicano

Fomento Económico Mexicano, SAB. de C.V. (FEMSA) is a Mexican multinational company active primarily in the retail and beverage sectors. Headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, FEMSA’s operations span convenience store retailing, beverage bottling and distribution, and related logistics and consumer services. The company’s business model combines high-frequency retail outlets with large-scale beverage production and a regional supply chain network.

FEMSA Comercio, the company’s retail arm, operates a large chain of convenience stores under the OXXO brand and has expanded its retail footprint with complementary formats and services.