HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors increased its Freeport-McMoRan stake by 17.1% in the second quarter, acquiring 182,714 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 1.25 million shares valued at approximately $78.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.77% of FCX.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with Freeport-McMoRan carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $70.27, despite some recent downgrades to “Hold.”
• Freeport-McMoRan beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $0.74 versus the $0.62 consensus and revenue of $7.03 billion. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share, equivalent to a 0.4% annualized yield.

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 17.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,249,858 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 182,714 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $78,604,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 34.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,062,916 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $62,478,000 after purchasing an additional 272,726 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth about $8,857,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 205.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 317,429 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $16,122,000 after buying an additional 213,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $868,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Freedom Broker downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.27.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 54,618 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,951. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 80,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.56, for a total transaction of $6,284,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 211,016 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,577,416.96. This represents a 27.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 110,398 shares of company stock valued at $8,387,271. 0.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE FCX opened at $72.66 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.15 and a 12-month high of $80.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.46. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $104.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The firm's revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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