Wedmont Private Capital Purchases New Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 8,079 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 6,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $166,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 11,250 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Israel Discount Bank of New York lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Israel Discount Bank of New York now owns 9,006 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 8,475 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. 77.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total value of $504,139.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,395,815.61. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TheStreet upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.21.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of FCX opened at $36.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.75. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.80 and a twelve month high of $51.99.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The natural resource company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $5.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 14.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 13th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 12.66%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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Freeport-McMoRan, Inc engages in the mining of copper, gold, and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining, Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining, and Corporate and Other. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Baghdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico.