Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Sold by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.

Key Points

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.6% in Q1, now holding 108,343 shares valued at approximately $4.1 million.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently surpassed earnings expectations with a $0.54 EPS and generated $7.58 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 14.5% from the previous year.
• Analysts have set various price targets for Freeport-McMoRan, with a consensus average price target of $51.00 and ratings ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Hold".

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lessened its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 42.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,343 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 80,438 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $4,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FCX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 540,046 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $20,565,000 after purchasing an additional 115,552 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 155,110 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $5,907,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,474,551 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $56,151,000 after purchasing an additional 81,633 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,191 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $41.3070 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.31 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 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.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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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