Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 408 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,248 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $161,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the fourth 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 last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.82.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $40.86 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.39 and its 200-day moving average is $38.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.68, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.