Cetera Investment Advisers Grows Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 239.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 291,025 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 205,286 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $13,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,675,241,000 after buying an additional 1,210,833 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after buying an additional 1,030,451 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,734,234,000 after buying an additional 2,392,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after buying an additional 1,551,828 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.8 %

FCX opened at $41.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.07.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 54,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.78, for a total value of $2,781,271.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,652,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $185,472,832.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 54,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.78, for a total transaction of $2,781,271.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,652,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $185,472,832.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.