Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Boosts Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,377 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,053,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 10,606 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,840 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 965 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 16,844 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $717,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 45,869 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,710,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,438,509.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $187,438,509.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,331,577.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 310,896 shares of company stock valued at $15,811,399 over the last quarter. 0.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of FCX traded up $1.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.45. 14,498,117 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,456,276. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $52.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a PE ratio of 44.65, a P/E/G ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.84.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.