Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 145,835 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 26.9% in the first quarter, buying 145,835 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 688,431 shares worth about $40.5 million.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported strong Q2 results, with adjusted EPS of $0.74 and revenue of $7.03 billion, both beating analyst expectations thanks to higher realized copper and gold prices.
• Analysts remain mostly constructive on FCX, with recent price target increases from firms like Stifel Nicolaus and RBC; the stock currently carries a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a target price of $70.18.

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 26.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 688,431 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 145,835 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $40,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alpha Family Trust purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $202,000. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $10,669,000. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $6,887,000. Signature Equity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2,588.4% during the first quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 4,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 990.3% in the 1st quarter. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,347 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 9,398 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Freeport-McMoRan

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: FCX reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $0.74 and revenue of $7.03 billion, both ahead of Wall Street estimates, helped by higher realized copper and gold prices. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the Grasberg ramp remains on schedule, U.S. operations are improving, and the brownfield copper pipeline is expanding, which supports longer-term production growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on FCX to $73 from $70, signaling continued analyst confidence in the stock’s upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent writeups highlighted strong income growth, free cash flow, and the benefit of firmer copper prices, reinforcing the investment case for FCX. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. CICC Research lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.50 to $58.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.18.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $62.54 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.15 and a twelve month high of $72.28. The firm has a market cap of $89.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.58 and a 200 day moving average of $62.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The business had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 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, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.78%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FCX? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.