Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Sold by Ion Asset Management Ltd.

Ion Asset Management Ltd. lessened its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 87.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,520 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 150,000 shares during the quarter. Ion Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $844,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 30,333 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 45,133 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 45,095 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.9% in the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 6,658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mengis Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the third quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,404 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FCX. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $56.33 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.98. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $69.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $80.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 19.87%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total value of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,149.19. This trade represents a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.