75,000 Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Bought by Wesleyan Assurance Society

Wesleyan Assurance Society acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 75,000 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $2,857,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,910 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $872,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Palogic Value Management L.P. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 20,277 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 36,514 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 12,965 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FCX. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.0%

FCX opened at $38.78 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $36.55 and a 200-day moving average of $38.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

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.

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