FMC (NYSE:FMC) Stock Rating Cut to “Strong Sell” at Barclays

FMC (NYSE:FMC) was downgraded by investment analysts at Barclays from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on FMC. Wall Street Zen raised FMC from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FMC from $15.50 to $12.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of FMC in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of FMC in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of FMC from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $12.69.

FMC Price Performance

FMC stock opened at $5.63 on Thursday. FMC has a 12 month low of $4.84 and a 12 month high of $30.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.17. The company has a market cap of $705.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.26 and a beta of 0.45.

FMC (NYSE:FMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.04. FMC had a positive return on equity of 11.35% and a negative net margin of 84.83%. The business had revenue of $841.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $895.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. FMC’s revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that FMC will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FMC

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of FMC by 99.0% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,726 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,356 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of FMC by 14.9% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 12,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 1,614 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of FMC by 3,642.9% during the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,834 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of FMC by 47.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139 shares during the period. Finally, NFSG Corp raised its stake in shares of FMC by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 7,550 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. 91.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More FMC News

Here are the key news stories impacting FMC this week:

• Positive Sentiment: FMC announced commercial actions—including price reductions on selected products and changes to its U.S. selling model—to reduce elevated channel inventories, improve product movement and support future replenishment demand. FMC Corporation Provides Update to Third-Quarter Expectations
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity increased, with traders purchasing approximately 3,446 call contracts versus an average of about 2,073, indicating some speculative interest despite the selloff.
• Neutral Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada lowered its price target to $9 from $11 while maintaining a “sector perform” rating, signaling limited conviction in a near-term recovery. RBC Lowers FMC Price Target
• Negative Sentiment: FMC cut third-quarter revenue guidance to just $65 million–$125 million and projected adjusted EBITDA of negative $565 million to negative $510 million. The revised outlook is dramatically below prior expectations and reflects approximately $625 million–$675 million of charges tied to commercial actions. FMC Cuts Third-Quarter Revenue Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: Management cited weaker-than-expected demand, challenging market conditions and unusually high inventories of more expensive FMC products held by channel customers. Those inventories are restricting product movement and delaying replenishment orders, while generic competition is forcing pricing reductions. FMC Warns of Losses and Slashes Outlook
• Negative Sentiment: FMC said it expects to comply with its debt covenants at September 30 but plans to discuss potential covenant modifications with its banks, adding financial-risk concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced investigations into possible securities-law violations following the outlook reduction. These announcements do not establish wrongdoing, but they add headline and litigation risk for investors. FMC Investor Alert

FMC Company Profile

FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC) is an agricultural sciences company that develops, manufactures and markets crop protection products for farmers and other agricultural professionals. Its portfolio includes herbicides, insecticides and fungicides used to help protect crops from weeds, insects and diseases.

The company also develops biological and other crop health solutions, supported by research in areas such as plant science, chemistry and biotechnology. FMC’s products are used across a range of crops and growing conditions, and the company serves agricultural markets in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and other regions worldwide.

FMC traces its origins to 1883 and has evolved through acquisitions and investments in agricultural technology into a focused crop protection company.