Morningstar Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,814 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,814 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at about $253,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $209,000. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 376.5% in the third quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 336,802 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $12,559,000 after buying an additional 266,125 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.2% in the third quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 37,639 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,404,000 after buying an additional 805 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the third quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 56,454 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,105,000 after buying an additional 561 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total transaction of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total transaction of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE FCX traded up $0.79 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.49. 12,603,522 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,499,713. The company has a market capitalization of $72.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. HSBC raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Argus increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

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.