Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Bought by Iowa State Bank

Iowa State Bank grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 50.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 50,144 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,868 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. NBH Bank acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $28,000. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.93. 4,468,372 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,321,122. The stock has a market cap of $104.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.39. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.54 and a fifty-two week high of $80.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a $0.0750 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.67.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, Director Lydia H. Kennard sold 3,798 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.11, for a total transaction of $300,459.78. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 122,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,706,955.22. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,795,951. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,398 shares of company stock worth $8,387,271. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.