Canal Insurance CO Grows Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Canal Insurance CO raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 12.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 170,000 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 18,500 shares during the quarter. Freeport-McMoRan accounts for approximately 1.5% of Canal Insurance CO's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Canal Insurance CO's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after buying an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,122,922,000 after purchasing an additional 688,240 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $916,037,000 after buying an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $44.51 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.64. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $39.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.17.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on FCX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.27.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.

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