Wedmont Private Capital Sells 1,028 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Wedmont Private Capital lessened its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 6.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 15,698 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,028 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,388,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares in the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 220.3% during the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 40,467 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 27,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,768,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $42.34 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.53 and its 200 day moving average is $38.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $60.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.82.

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.