B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Boosts Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 149,841 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 28,412 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $5,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,529,149.19. This represents a 21.25% decrease in their position. 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 29,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 603,140 shares of company stock valued at $37,660,139. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. 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 report on Monday, January 26th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. 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 research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $59.29 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.40. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $69.75. The firm has a market cap of $85.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.27, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued 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 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.