Canal Insurance CO Boosts Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Canal Insurance CO lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 170,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,500 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan comprises about 1.5% of Canal Insurance CO’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Canal Insurance CO’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 540,046 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $20,565,000 after acquiring an additional 115,552 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,256,047 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $123,990,000 after purchasing an additional 236,012 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 36,427 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,387,000 after purchasing an additional 5,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Investors Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp now owns 10,944 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $44.51 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.