Ballentine Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,235 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,451,285,000 after acquiring an additional 305,912 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,543,676,000 after acquiring an additional 419,603 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030,451 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 16,647,339 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $708,677,000 after purchasing an additional 595,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,758,947 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $458,008,000 after buying an additional 592,151 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE FCX traded up $0.92 during trading on Monday, hitting $50.48. The stock had a trading volume of 1,130,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,174,385. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $72.51 billion, a PE ratio of 43.86, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $50.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.76. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 over the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.