Ion Asset Management Ltd. Decreases Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Ion Asset Management Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 87.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,520 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 150,000 shares during the quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 79,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,917,475.70. The trade was a 37.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. This trade represents a 21.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FCX shares. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. CICC Research boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Freedom Capital upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Argus raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $56.33 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $69.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.95 billion, a PE ratio of 37.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

Freeport-McMoRan 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.