FMC (NYSE:FMC) Shares Gap Up Following Strong Earnings

FMC Co. (NYSE:FMC) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $60.18, but opened at $63.50. FMC shares last traded at $66.11, with a volume of 305,271 shares changing hands.

The basic materials company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.20. FMC had a net margin of 33.97% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The company had revenue of $1.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of FMC from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of FMC in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on FMC from $68.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays raised their target price on FMC from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on FMC from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FMC has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FMC in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in FMC during the first quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in FMC by 1,282.3% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 857 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.86% of the company’s stock.

FMC Stock Up 9.9 %

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.85.

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.