Sciencast Management LP Raises Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Sciencast Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 233.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 17,323 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,123 shares during the quarter. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 16,891 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,369,312,000 after buying an additional 976,592 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 2,917,913 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $124,216,000 after acquiring an additional 211,608 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,823.1% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 249,885 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $11,750,000 after acquiring an additional 236,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after acquiring an additional 20,894 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock traded down $0.23 on Friday, reaching $51.28. 7,988,935 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,724,964. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.73. The company has a market cap of $73.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.92.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FCX. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Bernstein Bank lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.