LPL Financial LLC Has $73.76 Million Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC has increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 9.6%, acquiring 171,253 additional shares during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to approximately $73.76 million.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently reported $0.54 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.45, with revenue of $7.58 billion compared to estimates of $6.85 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, set to pay on August 1st, representing a 1.53% dividend yield.

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 9.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,948,185 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 171,253 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.14% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $73,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.2% during the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on FCX. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.04. 15,583,627 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,279,356. 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $42.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.05. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61. The company has a market cap of $57.54 billion, a PE ratio of 30.33, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.63.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given 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 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.