Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX is Regal Partners Ltd’s 5th Largest Position

Regal Partners Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 15.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,430,795 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 434,918 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan makes up about 6.7% of Regal Partners Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Regal Partners Ltd’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $95,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 30,333 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 45,133 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 45,095 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 6,658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mengis Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,404 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Argus upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. CICC Research boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $59.29 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $69.75. The company has a market capitalization of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.27, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total transaction of $9,888,864.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 3,356,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $216,975,679.35. This trade represents a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

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.