Calton & Associates Inc. Buys New Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 11,383 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $446,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,882 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $560,000. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% in the second quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 13,638 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,874,950 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $82,198,000 after purchasing an additional 14,397 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, 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 is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,509,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $220,372,673.20. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 513,986 shares of company stock worth $32,124,432. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.3%

FCX opened at $62.82 on Monday. 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 $55.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.90. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $69.44. The stock has a market cap of $90.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.47.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The firm 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%.Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

Freeport-McMoRan News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BNP Paribas Exane raised its price target on FCX to $75 (from $56) and kept an “outperform” rating — a sizeable lift to upside expectations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Argus upgraded FCX from “hold” to “buy,” reinforcing buy-side momentum and contributing to short‑term demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Other broker actions (Stifel raised its target to $76; UBS, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley have recently lifted targets) add to the analyst-driven narrative supporting higher valuations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other research outlets highlight rising earnings-estimate revisions and momentum characteristics for FCX, which can justify multiple expansion if commodity prices and volumes cooperate. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Increased media and analyst attention (multiple Zacks pieces, MSN/Yahoo coverage) is amplifying flows into FCX but is informational rather than a direct operational catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Grasberg production setbacks materially reduced Q4 copper/gold volumes, a real operational headwind that can limit near-term revenue despite stronger prices. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales: Chairman Richard Adkerson disclosed multi-hundred-thousand‑share disposals (Feb. 10–11 filings) totaling tens of millions of dollars — these trades can sap sentiment even if explained by diversification or tax planning. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Douglas Currault II sold 75,000 shares (~$4.8M); insider selling at the executive level is a nearer-term negative for perception of internal conviction. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Clarkson Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.26.

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.