D.A. Davidson & CO. Buys 7,363 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 195,941 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,363 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $8,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6,469.2% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 854 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. HSBC upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bernstein Bank increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 4.2 %

FCX opened at $52.02 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $74.62 billion, a PE ratio of 48.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,430,735.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.