Nikulski Financial Inc. Purchases 30,586 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Nikulski Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 375.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 38,741 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,586 shares during the period. Nikulski Financial Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,760,188 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,049,975,000 after buying an additional 1,776,241 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,480,995,000 after acquiring an additional 899,699 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,450,384,000 after acquiring an additional 690,736 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,671,223 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $849,945,000 after acquiring an additional 435,963 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.40.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 7.7%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $58.85 on Wednesday. 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. The company has a market cap of $84.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.97, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.88.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.87%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 79,894 shares in the company, valued at $4,917,475.70. This represents a 37.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.