Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Buys Shares of 564,714 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 564,714 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,515,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised 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 valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after buying an additional 14,992 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FCX. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,951. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,520,000. The trade was a 11.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 26,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,012 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $66.48 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.15 and a 1-year high of $72.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.17.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 14.78%.

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.