Wedmont Private Capital Purchases Shares of 8,079 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,079 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth $26,000. Founders Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $27,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 54.1% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, First Command Bank purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $41.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $32.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.21.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total transaction of $504,139.26. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,395,815.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $36.23 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.80 and a twelve month high of $51.99. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.41 and its 200 day moving average is $36.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $51.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The natural resource company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 14.59%. The company had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 13th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 12.66%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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Freeport-McMoRan, Inc engages in the mining of copper, gold, and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining, Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining, and Corporate and Other. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Baghdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico.