Rockland Trust Co. Purchases New Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Rockland Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 34,724 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FCX. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $761,623,000 after purchasing an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at about $159,147,000. Crake Asset Management LLP grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 9,522,673 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $412,808,000 after acquiring an additional 3,593,050 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 289.0% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,844,504 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $150,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 205.0% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,186,621 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $181,490,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813,845 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $1,364,019.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total value of $456,201.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,847,349.26. This represents a 19.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. CICC Research increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $53.50 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.40.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $90.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.47. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $69.44. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.45.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.87%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.