Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,210,833 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $5,675,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 16,891 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,369,312,000 after purchasing an additional 976,592 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 2,917,913 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $124,216,000 after purchasing an additional 211,608 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,823.1% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 249,885 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,750,000 after purchasing an additional 236,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after acquiring an additional 20,894 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $187,438,509.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.90. 9,670,969 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,720,332. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $65.93 billion, a PE ratio of 40.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.94.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on FCX. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.93.

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.