West Family Investments Inc. Raises Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

West Family Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 228.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,197 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 7,787 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after buying an additional 14,992 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of FCX opened at $69.02 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.15 and a fifty-two week high of $72.28. The firm has a market cap of $99.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.78%.

Insider Activity

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Barclays raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.27.

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.