Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $27.23 Million Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 221.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 463,166 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 319,061 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $27,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after purchasing an additional 14,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on FCX shares. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $61.58 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.15 and a 1 year high of $72.28. The firm has a market cap of $88.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.37.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 14.78%.

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.