Sciencast Management LP Has $815,000 Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Sciencast Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 233.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,323 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,123 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. American National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% during the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% in the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on FCX shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.93.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total transaction of $4,162,400.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.28. The company had a trading volume of 7,988,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,724,964. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $50.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.73. The firm has a market cap of $73.66 billion, a PE ratio of 45.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

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.