Romano Brothers AND Company Cuts Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Romano Brothers AND Company decreased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 18.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,500 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 13,248.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,351,630 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $227,747,000 after purchasing an additional 5,311,538 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $66,993,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,777,840 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $245,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,498,259 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 16,058.7% in the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 1,500,338 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $55,947,000 after purchasing an additional 1,491,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,857.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,324,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $56,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297,737 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.60. The stock had a trading volume of 12,546,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,832,552. The company’s 50-day moving average is $50.58 and its 200 day moving average is $45.12. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $69.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.96.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,331,577.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 in the last ninety days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.