Artemis Investment Management LLP Raises Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,158 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 825 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $5,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, American National Bank increased 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 over the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley raised Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Five 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.6 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $48.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.96. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $50.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.07.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for 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%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.