Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. Raises Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,297 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 16,891 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,369,312,000 after acquiring an additional 976,592 shares during the period. Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 2,917,913 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $124,216,000 after acquiring an additional 211,608 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew 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. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $27,572,000 after acquiring an additional 240,340 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FCX. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $1.94 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $50.65. The company had a trading volume of 8,913,699 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,552,033. The business’s 50-day moving average is $50.63 and its 200-day moving average is $45.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $72.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total transaction of $4,162,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070. 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.