Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Baxter Bros Inc.

Baxter Bros Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,806 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the quarter. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6,469.2% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 854 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total value of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,707,249 shares in the company, valued at $187,438,509.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 310,896 shares of company stock valued at $15,811,399. 0.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.67 on Friday, hitting $50.45. The company had a trading volume of 14,498,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,456,276. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $52.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The company has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a PE ratio of 44.65, a PEG ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 2.02. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Argus upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.07.

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.