State of Michigan Retirement System Purchases 300 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 392,933 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $18,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% during the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% in the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $48.72 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $69.99 billion, a PE ratio of 43.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.92.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley raised Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total value of $4,162,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,430,735.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.