Intact Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 130.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 121,100 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,600 shares during the quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% in the third quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 79,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,917,475.70. This represents a 37.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,509,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $220,372,673.20. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on FCX. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 price objective on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.14.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $56.64 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.41. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.15 and a 12 month high of $70.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.96%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.