Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 35.4% in Q2, owning approximately 4.67 million shares valued at $202.56 million.
• Analysts have mixed views on Freeport-McMoRan, with target prices ranging from $50.00 to $56.00, and an average rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Freeport-McMoRan recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, translating to an annual yield of 1.3%.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 35.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,672,689 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,220,827 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.33% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $202,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 62,015 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,348,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Princeton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 25,980 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $984,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,102 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $345,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 2,550 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sargent Investment Group LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 10,421 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.33.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX opened at $44.96 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.59. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $43.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its 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 company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Freeport-McMoRan's 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.

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