ING Groep NV Lowers Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• ING Groep NV reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 51.3%, now holding 188,199 shares worth approximately $7.13 million.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.54, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing a 14.5% increase in year-over-year revenue.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15, which translates to an annualized yield of 1.5% and a payout ratio of 22.73%.

ING Groep NV lowered its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 51.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 188,199 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 198,527 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,174 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Eight research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the business'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 transaction of $343,531.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $39.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,494,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,031,578. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $42.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.04. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61. The company has a market cap of $57.27 billion, a PE ratio of 30.19, a PEG ratio of 0.75 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. 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.