CM Management LLC Grows Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• CM Management LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 40% in the first quarter, now owning 70,000 shares valued at approximately $2.65 million.
• Hedge funds like Price T Rowe Associates and Vanguard Group have also raised their holdings in Freeport-McMoRan, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported a quarterly earnings beat with $0.54 EPS, surpassing estimates and reflecting a revenue increase of 14.5% year-over-year, achieving $7.58 billion in revenue.

CM Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 40.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 70,000 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the quarter. Freeport-McMoRan makes up approximately 2.6% of CM Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. CM Management LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after buying an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $830,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,354.9% during the first quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 2,641,129 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $100,001,000 after buying an additional 2,459,598 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,968,781 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $453,138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,133,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 125,042,285 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,734,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Stifel Canada raised Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE:FCX traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.49. 805,145 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,024,409. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.63. 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 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.