Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Acquires 37,713 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 971,430 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,713 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $68,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 34.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,062,916 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $62,478,000 after purchasing an additional 272,726 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 9,970,872 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $627,068,000 after buying an additional 141,738 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.1% in the 2nd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,249,858 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $78,604,000 after buying an additional 182,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robinhood Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at $16,746,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lydia Kennard sold 3,798 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.11, for a total value of $300,459.78. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 122,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,706,955.22. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ellie Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,000. This represents a 11.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 110,398 shares of company stock worth $8,387,271. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of FCX traded up $0.99 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $73.03. 5,566,799 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,339,962. The business has a fifty day moving average of $70.74 and a 200-day moving average of $65.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.87 billion, a PE ratio of 35.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.39. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.54 and a 1-year high of $80.24. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0750 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 14.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Freedom Broker lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.87.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE: FCX) is a leading international mining company focused primarily on the exploration, development and production of copper, gold and molybdenum. Copper is its principal product and is used in electrical systems, construction, transportation, renewable energy infrastructure and other industrial applications. The company also produces copper cathodes and concentrates, gold, molybdenum products and certain quantities of silver and other byproducts.

Freeport-McMoRan operates a portfolio of mining and processing assets in North America, South America and Indonesia.