Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Boosts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 55.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 185,469 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,910 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $560,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,542,388 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $240,230,000 after buying an additional 716,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 352,236 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $15,269,000 after buying an additional 23,596 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $57.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.08. The firm has a market cap of $83.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.34, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.41. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $69.75.

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. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Argus raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Clarkson Capital raised shares of 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 given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.59.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,894 shares in the company, valued at $4,917,475.70. This represents a 37.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 565,145 shares of company stock worth $35,839,918 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.