Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stake Boosted by Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV

Key Points

• Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.1% in the first quarter, owning a total of 49,066 shares worth approximately $1.86 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Freeport-McMoRan stock, with Scotiabank increasing it from $48 to $52, and Jefferies raising it to $50.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported a $0.54 EPS for the latest quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a 14.5% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 21.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,066 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,537 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth approximately $366,959,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings 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 worth $1,214,203,000 after buying an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in 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 worth $830,726,000 after buying an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its holdings in 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 worth $100,001,000 after buying an additional 2,459,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,968,781 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $453,138,000 after buying an additional 2,133,846 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this link. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $42.29 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $52.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $43.01 and a 200-day moving average of $39.22. The company has a market capitalization of $60.72 billion, a PE ratio of 32.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 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 company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 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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