SYM FINANCIAL Corp Acquires Shares of 6,363 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,363 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth about $1,924,000. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 310.3% during the first quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 59,548 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 45,036 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 12.1% during the first quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 943,136 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $35,707,000 after purchasing an additional 102,043 shares during the period. Wesleyan Assurance Society boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 306.7% during the first quarter. Wesleyan Assurance Society now owns 305,000 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $11,544,000 after purchasing an additional 230,000 shares during the period. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.3% during the first quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 41,217 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,550,000 after purchasing an additional 2,063 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.23 on Thursday, hitting $44.61. The stock had a trading volume of 13,221,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,348,872. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $52.61. The stock has a market cap of $64.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.64. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $42.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.90.

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. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The business's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.79%.

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.