West Family Investments Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

West Family Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 228.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,197 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,787 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the 4th 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 during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FCX. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 4.1%

FCX stock 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 company has a market capitalization of $99.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $64.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The company had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,951. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,520,000. The trade was a 11.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 26,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,012 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

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.