Axa S.A. Purchases 130,914 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Axa S.A. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 375.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 165,803 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 130,914 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at about $246,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after buying an additional 66,699 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 194.4% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,042 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 688 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,548,963 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $58,985,000 after buying an additional 64,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 28,750 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 7,808 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.7 %

FCX opened at $37.98 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.39. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $54.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FCX. UBS Group reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.