Hardy Reed LLC Invests $1.73 Million in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Hardy Reed LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 29,466 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,732,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted 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 valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 14,992 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.1%

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $60.88 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.15 and a 12 month high of $72.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $87.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.34.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $66.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. CICC Research lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, HSBC upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Two 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.36.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.