Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD Cuts Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD has reduced its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 19.5%, now owning 31,420 shares valued at approximately $1.19 million.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in Freeport-McMoRan, with Price T Rowe Associates lifting their stake by 21.9%.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15, reflecting an annual yield of 1.5% and a payout ratio of 22.73%.

Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD reduced its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,420 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 7,632 shares during the quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $830,726,000 after buying an additional 2,642,810 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,354.9% in the 1st quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 2,641,129 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $100,001,000 after buying an additional 2,459,598 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,469,258 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $208,269,000 after buying an additional 1,539,124 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 153.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,477,217 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $94,332,000 after buying an additional 1,501,277 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Canada upgraded Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley cut Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $39.95. The stock had a trading volume of 2,683,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,155,270. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.63. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $52.61. The stock's fifty day moving average is $42.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 22.73%.

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.