Amundi Acquires 6,054,537 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Amundi increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1%, acquiring 6,054,537 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 27.6 million shares valued at $1.05 billion.
• Several other institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs, also increased their stakes, resulting in institutional investors collectively owning 80.77% of the stock.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.54, surpassing expectations, and announced a dividend of $0.15 per share, reflecting a 1.3% dividend yield.

Amundi grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 28.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,054,537 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 1.92% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,046,280,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Bank of America reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Stifel Canada raised Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:FCX traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.37. 8,068,482 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,633,279. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.64 and a 200 day moving average of $39.86. The stock has a market cap of $66.58 billion, a PE ratio of 35.13, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.59.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%.The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The business's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect 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 Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.73%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.