181,071 Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Bought by CenterBook Partners LP

CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 181,071 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,102,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% in the third quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE:FCX opened at $61.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $87.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.47. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $69.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.20.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 19.87%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,059.06. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total transaction of $9,888,864.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 3,356,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $216,975,679.35. The trade was a 4.36% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 513,986 shares of company stock valued at $32,124,432. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on FCX. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Clarkson Capital upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.26.

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.