Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 13.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 258,900 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 39,498 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $10,154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. CICC Research lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.40.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $63.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $91.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.15, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.47. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.42 and a 200 day moving average of $46.32.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,059.06. The trade was a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 38,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. This trade represents a 19.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.