Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stake Boosted by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,317 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 487 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the fourth 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 stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $45.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.59 billion, a PE ratio of 37.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 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 has a fifty day moving average price of $41.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.54. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued 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 for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 24.79%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.