Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 4,707 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CM Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $14,726,000 after purchasing an additional 20,894 shares during the period. Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $27,572,000 after purchasing an additional 240,340 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $279,977,000 after purchasing an additional 102,466 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $201,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $51.39 on Wednesday. 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 50 day moving average price of $46.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.14. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $52.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.71 billion, a PE ratio of 45.48, a P/E/G ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its 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 net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Insider Transactions 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $187,438,509.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the firm’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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 365,667 shares of company stock valued at $18,592,670. 0.78% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bernstein Bank raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Argus upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.07.

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.