Encompass Capital Advisors LLC Takes $62.18 Million Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Encompass Capital Advisors LLC has acquired 1,642,421 shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc., worth approximately $62.2 million, representing 2.4% of its portfolio.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.54, beating analysts' expectations, with revenue of $7.58 billion for the same quarter.
• The company has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 1.3% and a payout ratio of 22.73%.

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,642,421 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $62,182,000. Freeport-McMoRan comprises approximately 2.4% of Encompass Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.11% of Freeport-McMoRan at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Crake Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2,140.8% during the 1st quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 5,929,623 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $224,496,000 after acquiring an additional 5,665,000 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $177,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 73.1% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,372,776 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $50,916,000 after acquiring an additional 579,875 shares during the last quarter. Ardsley Advisory Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,465,000. Finally, Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $9,286,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stifel Canada raised Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $46.68. 10,367,913 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,378,428. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.59. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $43.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal 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 payout ratio is 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.