Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 6.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 636,595 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,838 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $24,101,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Chapin Davis Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Eagle Strategies LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 34.0% in the first quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 87,925 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,329,000 after buying an additional 22,311 shares during the last quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth $220,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.3% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 134,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,077,000 after buying an additional 6,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 302,087 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,437,000 after buying an additional 83,186 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Wall Street Zen downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.27.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $41.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $59.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.77 and a 200-day moving average of $38.17.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.