Lincoln National Corp Has $1.24 Million Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Lincoln National Corp lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 22.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,024 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 8,468 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NBT Bank N A NY increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 87.5% in the third quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 15,278 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $570,000 after acquiring an additional 7,128 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.9% in the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 31,488 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 889 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.0% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 8,235 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 14.2% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 14,814 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 1,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $463,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 2.8 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $49.96 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $71.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 2.02. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $52.52. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.20. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on FCX. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 54,771 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.78, for a total transaction of $2,781,271.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,652,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $185,472,832.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 365,667 shares of company stock valued at $18,592,670 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.