Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 13.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 730,336 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 87,581 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned about 0.05% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $28,644,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 126,983,947 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,504,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941,662 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $2,703,250,000 after buying an additional 1,926,493 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 worth $2,678,474,000 after buying an additional 320,514 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in 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 worth $849,945,000 after buying an additional 435,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% during the second 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares in the company, valued at $1,847,349.26. This trade represents a 19.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 513,986 shares of company stock worth $32,124,432. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.26.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.3%

FCX stock opened at $62.82 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $69.44. The firm has a market cap of $90.21 billion, a PE ratio of 41.60, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.06. 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 (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

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.