Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Boosts Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 314,800 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $14,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,543,676,000 after buying an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030,451 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551,828 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 16,647,339 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $708,677,000 after acquiring an additional 595,395 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,758,947 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $458,008,000 after acquiring an additional 592,151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Raymond James raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.1 %

Shares of FCX traded down $1.53 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $48.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,308,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,631,452. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $69.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.