Dark Forest Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Dark Forest Capital Management LP has made a new investment of approximately $4.30 million in Freeport-McMoRan Inc., acquiring 113,525 shares during the first quarter of the year.
• A significant share of Freeport-McMoRan is held by institutional investors, who collectively own over 80% of the company's stock.
• The company recently reported strong earnings, with EPS of $0.54 for the quarter, exceeding analyst expectations and reflecting a 14.5% year-over-year increase in revenue.

Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 113,525 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $4,298,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 125,042,285 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,734,101,000 after buying an additional 1,822,987 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,421,549,000 after buying an additional 5,661,958 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $830,726,000 after buying an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 16.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,162,058 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $498,270,000 after buying an additional 1,815,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,968,781 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $453,138,000 after buying an additional 2,133,846 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $46.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,874,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,330,866. The company has a market cap of $66.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.98, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.59. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $52.61.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 22.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of 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 given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.