35,070 Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Bought by Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 35,070 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,576,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% in the second quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 30,333 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 45,133 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.9% during the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 6,658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 42,617 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Finally, WealthCollab LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. WealthCollab LLC now owns 1,820 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $47.41 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $49.12. The company has a market cap of $68.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.49.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.74 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FCX. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Clarkson Capital upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. This represents a 19.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. This represents a 21.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.