Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Sold by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. significantly reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 77.3%, selling 740,533 shares and decreasing its holdings to 217,275 shares valued at approximately $8.23 million.
• Institutional investors continue to show interest, with Vanguard Group Inc. and Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increasing their positions in Freeport-McMoRan during the same quarter.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported $0.54 earnings per share in its latest quarterly results, surpassing analysts' expectations and indicating a revenue growth of 14.5% from the previous year.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 77.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 217,275 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 740,533 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $8,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 125,042,285 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,734,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,987 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,421,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661,958 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $830,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,441,112 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $626,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,162,058 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $498,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FCX. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.42. 7,369,039 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,569,492. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $63.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.63. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $52.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.34 and a 200 day moving average of $39.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.73%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.