Versant Capital Management Inc Raises Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 209.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 657 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $32,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. American National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% during the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was 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 $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.24. 3,592,249 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,681,076. The company has a market cap of $59.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $48.33 and its 200 day moving average is $46.26. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Argus upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.07.

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.