Bank of New York Mellon Corp Purchases 2,642,810 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,642,810 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 1.53% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $830,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on FCX. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.25.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 4.7%

FCX stock traded up $2.12 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.25. 22,546,605 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,551,437. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.33 and a 200-day moving average of $38.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.