Brown Advisory Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Brown Advisory Inc. reduced its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 31.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,795 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 4,533 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $44.23 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.62. The company has a market capitalization of $63.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan 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 value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by 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.