Westside Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 20.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,835 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, American National Bank raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% in the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,331,577.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 in the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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 note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bernstein Bank lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. HSBC lifted their price target 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. BNP Paribas raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 4.0 %

NYSE FCX opened at $50.64 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.74 billion, a PE ratio of 44.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.92.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

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.