Romano Brothers AND Company Reduces Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Romano Brothers AND Company lessened its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 18.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,500 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. American National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% in the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of FCX stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $48.60. 12,546,132 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,832,552. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $50.58 and its 200-day moving average is $45.12. The company has a market cap of $69.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

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, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.73 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 given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.93.

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.