Legato Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Legato Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 49,650 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Leo Wealth LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 924 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 176 shares during the period. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,687 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,119 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 64,438 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,273,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.72.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock opened at $61.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $89.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.94, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.35. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $35.15 and a one year high of $70.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.24 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.