CSM Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

CSM Advisors LLC cut its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 52.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 50,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 54,980 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after buying an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $761,623,000 after buying an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 9,522,673 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $412,808,000 after buying an additional 3,593,050 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 289.0% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,844,504 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $150,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,856,302 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 205.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,186,621 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $181,490,000 after acquiring an additional 2,813,845 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total value of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,529,149.19. The trade was a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $57.89 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.08. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $69.75. The firm has a market cap of $83.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.