Jupiter Topco LLC Invests $739.89 Million in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 11,765,253 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $739,890,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,539 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Essex Bank grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the first quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on FCX shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.50 to $58.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $79.91 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.75 billion, a PE ratio of 39.36, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.37. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.15 and a twelve month high of $79.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.66.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.78%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $992,251.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,951. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,520,000. This trade represents a 11.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,012. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.