Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $34.02 Million Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 648.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 867,343 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 751,392 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.06% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $34,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. This trade represents a 19.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $1,364,019.77. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,059.06. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. CICC Research increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.40.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.9%

FCX stock opened at $60.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.24 billion, a PE ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $52.44 and its 200-day moving average is $45.72.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.87%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.