Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Bought by Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 404,167 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 44,800 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $25,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FCX. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.6% during the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,539 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Essex Bank lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the first quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $829,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 7.7%

Shares of FCX opened at $76.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $110.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.77, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.37. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.15 and a 12 month high of $77.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $64.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The business had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 14.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $992,251.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,951. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $334,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,520,000. The trade was a 11.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,012. 0.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.