B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Takes $779,000 Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 17,963 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $779,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 126,983,947 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,504,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941,662 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 62,358,715 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,703,250,000 after purchasing an additional 1,926,493 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,787,174 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,678,474,000 after purchasing an additional 320,514 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,421,549,000 after buying an additional 5,661,958 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,054,537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FCX shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, CICC Research decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $51.60 to $42.30 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $49.11.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $47.55 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $68.27 billion, a PE ratio of 33.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.49. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $49.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.45.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.74 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. The trade was a 21.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. The trade was a 19.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.