Avalon Trust Co Purchases New Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Avalon Trust Co acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,013 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6,469.2% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 854 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 122.5% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 930 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. 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 report on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Bernstein Bank increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.45. 14,498,117 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,456,276. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $52.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.87. The company has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.65, a PEG ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 310,896 shares of company stock valued at $15,811,399. 0.78% of the stock is currently owned by 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.