FMC Corp (FMC): Are Hedge Funds Right About This Stock?

FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC) has experienced an increase in hedge fund sentiment lately.

To the average investor, there are plenty of metrics market participants can use to watch their holdings. Some of the most innovative are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top fund managers can outperform the broader indices by a significant margin (see just how much).

Equally as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is a second way to parse down the investments you’re interested in. There are a variety of stimuli for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this tactic if you know where to look (learn more here).

With these “truths” under our belt, let’s take a look at the latest action surrounding FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC).

How are hedge funds trading FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 23 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 28% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, David Cohen and Harold Levy’s Iridian Asset Management had the most valuable position in FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC), worth close to $109.1 million, accounting for 1.6% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is TPG-AXON Management LP, managed by Dinakar Singh, which held a $95.4 million position; 4.8% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Jean-Marie Eveillard’s First Eagle Investment Management, Martin D. Sass’s MD Sass and Robert B. Gillam’s McKinley Capital Management.

Consequently, key hedge funds were breaking ground themselves. TPG-AXON Management LP, managed by Dinakar Singh, initiated the biggest position in FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC). TPG-AXON Management LP had 95.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP also made a $20.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Matthew Tewksbury’s Stevens Capital Management, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, and David Costen Haley’s HBK Investments.

What have insiders been doing with FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC)?

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time period, FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 1 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to FMC Corp (NYSE:FMC). These stocks are Braskem SA (ADR) (NYSE:BAK), Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN), Ashland Inc. (NYSE:ASH), and Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE). All of these stocks are in the chemicals – major diversified industry and their market caps are closest to FMC’s market cap.