Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 5.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,678,183 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,582 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $65,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 278 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.40.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. This represents a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 38,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. This represents 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 Stock Up 6.5%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $64.68 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $52.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.86. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $69.44. The firm has a market cap of $92.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.47. 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 (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.