Fulton Bank N.A. Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 104.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,522 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 8,945 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $761,623,000 after buying an additional 8,292,873 shares during the period. Crake Asset Management LLP boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 60.6% in the second quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 9,522,673 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $412,808,000 after buying an additional 3,593,050 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 289.0% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,844,504 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $150,781,000 after buying an additional 2,856,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 205.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,186,621 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $181,490,000 after buying an additional 2,813,845 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of FCX opened at $56.45 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $69.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. The company has a market capitalization of $81.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 40,773 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,149.19. This represents a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918. Corporate insiders own 0.79% 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.