Encompass Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,642,421 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,642,421 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $62,182,000. Freeport-McMoRan comprises approximately 2.4% of Encompass Capital Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Freeport-McMoRan at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 125,042,285 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,734,101,000 after buying an additional 1,822,987 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,421,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,661,958 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054,537 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $830,726,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,162,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $498,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,815,285 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.7%

FCX opened at $46.17 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.76. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $52.61. The stock has a market cap of $66.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Hsbc Global Res cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

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.