Barings LLC Boosts Stock Position in Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. $FMX

Barings LLC grew its holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:FMX) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 79,217 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,600 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC’s holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano were worth $8,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FMX. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 11,692.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 716,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,171,000 after buying an additional 709,957 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 12,960.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 599,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,176,000 after buying an additional 595,388 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,343,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 67.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,046,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $103,256,000 after buying an additional 423,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 253.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 567,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,379,000 after buying an additional 407,140 shares in the last quarter. 61.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Fomento Economico Mexicano from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Fomento Economico Mexicano from $122.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Zacks Research upgraded Fomento Economico Mexicano from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Fomento Economico Mexicano from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Fomento Economico Mexicano from $98.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.17.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of FMX opened at $128.65 on Friday. 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 S.A.B. de C.V. has a one year low of $83.08 and a one year high of $128.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.78, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $119.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.18.

Fomento Economico Mexicano (NYSE:FMX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The company reported $2.43 EPS for the quarter. Fomento Economico Mexicano had a return on equity of 7.33% and a net margin of 3.40%.The firm had revenue of $11.61 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Fomento Economico Mexicano S.A.B. de C.V. will post 5.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 22nd. Fomento Economico Mexicano’s payout ratio is presently 53.47%.

Insider Activity at Fomento Economico Mexicano

In related news, Director Garza Alfonso Garza sold 52,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.19, for a total transaction of $585,360.09. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,128,453 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,627,389.07. The trade was a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 261,575 shares of company stock worth $2,795,188 in the last three months. 5.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Profile

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.