Sapient Capital LLC Decreases Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Sapient Capital reduced its Freeport-McMoRan position by 20.6% in the third quarter, selling 29,764 shares and retaining 114,766 shares valued at approximately $8.0 million. Institutional investors collectively own 80.77% of FCX.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: FCX has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $76.22, with JPMorgan and Wells Fargo recently raising their targets to $92 and $87, respectively.
• FCX shares traded near $71.19, while insiders sold 110,398 shares worth $8.4 million over the past 90 days. The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.74, beating estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share.

Sapient Capital LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 20.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 114,766 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 29,764 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $8,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,539 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Essex Bank increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $76.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Douglas Currault, II sold 80,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.56, for a total value of $6,284,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 211,016 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,577,416.96. This trade represents a 27.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Stephen Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 110,398 shares of company stock valued at $8,387,271. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Freeport-McMoRan

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher analyst price targets: JPMorgan raised its target to $92 from $77 and maintained an “overweight” rating, while Wells Fargo increased its target to $87 from $70 and also kept an “overweight” rating. These revisions suggest analysts see further upside for FCX. Wells Fargo Adjusts Price Target on Freeport-McMoRan
• Positive Sentiment: Copper outlook remains favorable: Deutsche Bank reportedly expects copper could reach $10 per pound, driven by artificial-intelligence infrastructure and electric-vehicle demand. Higher copper prices would generally benefit Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue and cash flow. Three stocks to buy as Deutsche Bank says copper could hit $10 a pound
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst view: Morgan Stanley lifted its FCX target to $75 from $70 but retained an “equal weight” rating, signaling limited expected upside relative to the more bullish JPMorgan and Wells Fargo views. Trending Stock Freeport-McMoRan
• Negative Sentiment: Broad earnings-estimate reductions: Zacks Research lowered its estimates for third-quarter 2026 EPS to $0.61 from $0.63, FY2027 EPS to $3.47 from $3.54, and FY2028 EPS to $3.41 from $3.52. It also reduced forecasts for multiple 2027–2028 quarters, indicating somewhat softer expectations for future profitability.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:FCX traded down $0.67 on Thursday, reaching $71.19. 11,867,491 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,298,794. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.54 and a 1-year high of $80.24. The company's 50 day moving average is $71.41 and its 200-day moving average is $65.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.39.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is 14.78%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc NYSE: FCX is a leading international mining company focused primarily on the exploration, development and production of copper, gold and molybdenum. Copper is its principal product and is used in electrical systems, construction, transportation, renewable energy infrastructure and other industrial applications. The company also produces copper cathodes and concentrates, gold, molybdenum products and certain quantities of silver and other byproducts.

Freeport-McMoRan operates a portfolio of mining and processing assets in North America, South America and Indonesia.

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