Royce & Associates LP Acquires 10,000 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $761,623,000 after acquiring an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 60.6% during the 2nd quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 9,522,673 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $412,808,000 after purchasing an additional 3,593,050 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 289.0% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,844,504 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $150,781,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856,302 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 205.0% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,186,621 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $181,490,000 after purchasing an additional 2,813,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 139.3% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,327,245 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $187,586,000 after purchasing an additional 2,518,641 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 4.8%

FCX opened at $62.77 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.16. The stock has a market cap of $90.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.57, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total transaction of $15,576,346.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 3,509,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $220,372,673.20. This represents a 6.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total value of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. This trade represents a 21.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.