Buffington Mohr McNeal Raises Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Buffington Mohr McNeal increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,718 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,913 shares during the period. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $5,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% in the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 794 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 17,417 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $819,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 32,050 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 10,606 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on FCX. UBS Group raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Bernstein Bank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, HSBC raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.30 on Tuesday, reaching $48.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,469,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,003,213. The company has a market capitalization of $69.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.92. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.21. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued 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 currently 26.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.