Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Acquires 2,664 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 62,340 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 2,664 shares during the period. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded down $0.77 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.50. 4,005,913 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,618,039. The company has a market cap of $65.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.83, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $52.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $40.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.36.

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.