Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Purchased by Rathbones Group PLC

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.3% in the fourth quarter, buying 395,848 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 1,796,710 shares worth about $91.3 million.
• Institutional ownership of FCX remains very high, with large firms like Vanguard, Fisher Asset Management, and State Street also adding shares; overall, institutions and hedge funds own 80.77% of the stock.
• Freeport-McMoRan posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.57 and revenue of $6.23 billion, while analysts currently rate the stock Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $65.14.

Rathbones Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 28.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,796,710 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 395,848 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.13% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $91,255,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after buying an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,480,995,000 after buying an additional 899,699 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,450,384,000 after buying an additional 690,736 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after buying an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,671,223 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $849,945,000 after buying an additional 435,963 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $65.14.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.7%

NYSE FCX opened at $60.88 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $61.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.17. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.15 and a 52 week high of $70.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $87.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.38, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.32.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The business had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 15.96%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.

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