ABN Amro Investment Solutions Takes Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

ABN Amro Investment Solutions acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 13,073 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $513,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% during the second 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 boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 62,358,715 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,703,250,000 after buying an additional 1,926,493 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 buying an additional 320,514 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,671,223 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $849,945,000 after acquiring an additional 435,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $761,623,000 after acquiring an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. The trade was a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total value of $456,201.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,847,349.26. This represents a 19.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 513,986 shares of company stock valued at $32,124,432 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Clarkson Capital upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.26.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $62.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $90.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $69.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.06.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict 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. 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 of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.