Aberdeen Group plc Grows Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc increased its stock holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 41.7%, owning approximately 1.78 million shares valued at $67 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Analysts have set a new consensus price target of $51.00 for Freeport-McMoRan, with several upgrades in ratings, including a shift from "hold" to "buy" by Wall Street Zen.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.4% with a payout ratio of 22.73%.

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 41.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,784,117 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 525,221 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.12% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $67,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 540,046 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $20,565,000 after purchasing an additional 115,552 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 330,434 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $12,583,000 after purchasing an additional 10,042 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at about $466,000. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,020 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,380 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock traded down $0.3480 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.4020. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,629,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,847,619. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $52.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.30.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%.The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. UBS Group downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

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.