Soros Fund Management LLC Buys New Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 200,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,984,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,392,918 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $69,534,000 after acquiring an additional 25,514 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 13,130 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $655,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $319,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 130,504 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,515,000 after acquiring an additional 16,166 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,302.4% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,342 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,175 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE FCX opened at $42.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $46.46 and its 200-day moving average is $46.62. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $36.04 and a one year high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $61.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.21, a P/E/G ratio of 17.29 and a beta of 1.86.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.90%.

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.