HighTower Advisors LLC Has $54.26 Million Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,068,293 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 8,675 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.07% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $54,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $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 acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 14,992 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, May 15th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 target price on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.14.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $60.88 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.15 and a 12-month high of $70.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.17. The stock has a market cap of $87.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.32.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 15.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.