Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Stock Position Reduced by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,832,109 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,264,795 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.48% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $429,671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 11.6% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,539 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Essex Bank lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $829,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,000. The trade was a 11.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,951. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 26,600 shares of company stock worth $1,802,012 in the last ninety days. 0.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FCX. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Barclays upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, CICC Research reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.7%

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $79.91 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $79.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.36, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.66.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.78%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.