Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 6,486,011 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 237.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.64% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $351,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,436,455,000 after purchasing an additional 529,099 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after buying an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.09 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.98 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.74 billion, a PE ratio of 29.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 23.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.