FCG Investment Co Invests $282,000 in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

FCG Investment Co purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,003 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during 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 last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,030,451 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $708,677,000 after purchasing an additional 595,395 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,758,947 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $458,008,000 after purchasing an additional 592,151 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FCX. StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Bernstein Bank raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 4.0 %

NYSE:FCX traded up $1.94 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $50.65. 8,913,699 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,552,033. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. 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 company has a market capitalization of $72.76 billion, a PE ratio of 44.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.92.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

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.