Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Bought by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 28.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,249,134 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 722,479 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.23% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $157,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at about $417,752,000. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13,248.4% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,351,630 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $227,747,000 after purchasing an additional 5,311,538 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $712,600,000 after purchasing an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Finally, Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth approximately $197,966,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.0 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.28. 7,811,563 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,294,627. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.66. The company has a market capitalization of $63.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research report on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

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.