Rhumbline Advisers Raises Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,494,456 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 84,660 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.17% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $94,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 67,866 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,569,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 14.1% in the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 28,382 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,075,000 after buying an additional 3,511 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3,899.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 863,397 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,688,000 after purchasing an additional 841,811 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.6% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 5,075 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 1,855 shares during the period. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 54.1% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 14,381 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 5,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.82.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $41.66. The company had a trading volume of 17,268,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,426,718. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $59.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.38.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is presently 24.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.