Park Avenue Securities LLC Raises Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,242 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 2,408 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 buying an additional 305,912 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,543,676,000 after buying an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after buying an additional 1,030,451 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 16,647,339 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $708,677,000 after buying an additional 595,395 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, HSBC increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $49.56 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.96. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were 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 owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,430,735.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.