PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Trims Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 18.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 198,425 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 44,665 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $8,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 18.3% during the third quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,177 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 14.3% during the third quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 850,541 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $31,716,000 after purchasing an additional 106,153 shares in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $316,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $592,000. Finally, Breakwater Capital Group lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 9,512 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 2,138 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,331,577.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bernstein Bank boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $51.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $73.43 billion, a PE ratio of 45.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 2.02. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.50 and a 200 day moving average of $42.57. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.