Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Makes New Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,768 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 216,960 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $8,214,000 after acquiring an additional 35,793 shares during the period. Capital Insight Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 14,175 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 62,340 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $2,395,000 after acquiring an additional 2,664 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 349,183 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $13,220,000 after acquiring an additional 8,754 shares during the period. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth about $255,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.64.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $47.19 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.92 and a 200-day moving average of $38.50. The firm has a market cap of $67.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.79%.

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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