Forge First Asset Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 42,800 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Forge First Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 42,800 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,011,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. American National Bank raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% during the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% during the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.0 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $45.90. 9,670,969 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,720,332. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.62, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,331,577.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction 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 approximately $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070 over the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

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.