Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Grows Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,750 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 1,550 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, American National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% in the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

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 transaction of $4,162,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 transaction of $4,162,400.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,331,577.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of 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 shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $49.89 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $50.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.94. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $71.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.96.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.