Credit Agricole S A Boosts Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Credit Agricole S A increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.4%, acquiring an additional 81,484 shares to total approximately 798,566 shares valued at $30.2 million.
• Analysts have raised their target prices for Freeport-McMoRan, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. increasing its target from $42 to $56 and maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15, leading to an annualized yield of 1.4%, showcasing its ongoing financial strength despite market fluctuations.

Credit Agricole S A increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 11.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 798,566 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 81,484 shares during the quarter. Credit Agricole S A owned approximately 0.06% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $30,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Stratos Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 238.5% in the first quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 64,519 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,443,000 after buying an additional 45,458 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 18.5% in the first quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 39,571 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,498,000 after buying an additional 6,188 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.2% in the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 421,469 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $15,957,000 after buying an additional 8,989 shares during the period. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 527.9% in the first quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. now owns 76,127 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,882,000 after buying an additional 64,003 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Hoagland & Co. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.6% in the first quarter. Anderson Hoagland & Co. now owns 109,565 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,148,000 after buying an additional 23,695 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $43.24. 10,819,626 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,287,120. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $52.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a market cap of $62.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.76, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.63.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 EPS 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 analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Canada upgraded Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

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.