Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Invests $277,000 in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 5,897 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. American National Bank lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6,469.2% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 854 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total value of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,707,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,438,509.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $187,438,509.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 390,667 shares of company stock valued at $19,895,620. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FCX. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $44.38. 9,181,651 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,687,365. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $49.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.09. The firm has a market cap of $63.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.82, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.