Bard Financial Services Inc. Trims Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Bard Financial Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,885 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 825 shares during the quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,122,922,000 after acquiring an additional 688,240 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,123,445,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191,926 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $916,037,000 after buying an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $40.98 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $58.90 billion, a PE ratio of 31.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business’s revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.82.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.