Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Bought by Iowa State Bank

Iowa State Bank grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 50.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,144 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,868 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. NBH Bank acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Steph & Co. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FCX shares. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $73.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.67.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $0.33 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.93. The company had a trading volume of 4,468,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,321,122. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.66. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.54 and a fifty-two week high of $80.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.0750 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 14.78%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie Mikes sold 4,773 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $334,110.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,000. The trade was a 11.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Douglas Currault, II sold 80,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.56, for a total value of $6,284,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 211,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,577,416.96. The trade was a 27.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 110,398 shares of company stock worth $8,387,271 over the last three months. 0.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE: FCX) is a leading international mining company focused primarily on the exploration, development and production of copper, gold and molybdenum. Copper is its principal product and is used in electrical systems, construction, transportation, renewable energy infrastructure and other industrial applications. The company also produces copper cathodes and concentrates, gold, molybdenum products and certain quantities of silver and other byproducts.

Freeport-McMoRan operates a portfolio of mining and processing assets in North America, South America and Indonesia.