Palogic Value Management L.P. Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Palogic Value Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 16.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,569 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares during the period. Palogic Value Management L.P.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,822,987 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 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 valued at $1,421,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661,958 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $830,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 16.0% during 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. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,968,781 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $453,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,133,846 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $44.42 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $52.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.64. The company has a market cap of $63.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.65, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.63.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.