Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Bought by Vise Technologies Inc.

Vise Technologies Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 104.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 95,200 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,660 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $5,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,769 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after buying an additional 395,226 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,489,069,000 after buying an additional 7,044,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 54,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,951. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $334,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,520,000. This represents a 11.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,600 shares of company stock worth $1,802,012. 0.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $71.18 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.33. The company has a market cap of $102.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.15 and a 52 week high of $72.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The company’s revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 14.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FCX. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Citigroup reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.27.

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.