Candriam S.C.A. Buys 43,163 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Candriam S.C.A. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 486,128 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,163 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $19,066,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 30,333 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 45,133 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 45,095 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.9% in the second quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 6,658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.1% during the third quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,491 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 4.9%

NYSE FCX opened at $63.65 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $69.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.15, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.47.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The company had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Monday, January 5th. HSBC lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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. Finally, CICC Research lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of Freeport-McMoRan 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 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 position. 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 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. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.