Element Capital Management LLC Takes $528,000 Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Element Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 13,470 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $528,000. Freeport-McMoRan comprises about 0.7% of Element Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth about $560,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 22,865 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $991,000 after acquiring an additional 10,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,542,388 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $240,230,000 after acquiring an additional 716,770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,917,475.70. This represents a 37.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 over the last quarter. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. CICC Research increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 4.9%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $56.33 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.66 and its 200 day moving average is $49.94. The company has a market cap of $80.95 billion, a PE ratio of 37.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $69.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.87%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.