Westpac Banking Corp Has $265,000 Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Westpac Banking Corp decreased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 74.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,746 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 19,776 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $265,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% in the third quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total value of $4,839,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,141,558.12. This trade represents a 25.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock valued at $37,660,139. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.73.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $68.38 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.33. 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 capitalization of $98.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.29, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.47. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 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.