Invesco Ltd. Buys 989,919 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its holding in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 9.7%, acquiring an additional 989,919 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to over 11.1 million shares valued at approximately $422.7 million.
• Several other institutional investors, including Covestor Ltd and TownSquare Capital LLC, also raised their stakes in Freeport-McMoRan, resulting in 80.77% of the company's stock being held by institutional investors.
• The company reported earnings of $0.54 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15, marking a 1.4% yield for shareholders.

Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 9.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,165,499 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 989,919 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.78% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $422,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 76.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,620 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134 shares during the period. Hosking Partners LLP increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 1,490,328 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $56,424,000 after acquiring an additional 190,697 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth about $362,000. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.4% in the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 264,808 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $10,026,000 after acquiring an additional 44,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Founders Financial Alliance LLC now owns 28,032 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,061,000 after acquiring an additional 2,969 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of FCX stock opened at $41.83 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.11 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.63. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $52.61. The business has a 50-day moving average of $42.88 and a 200 day moving average of $39.07. 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 (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%. Freeport-McMoRan's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. 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. Finally, Bank of America restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target 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.

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