Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA Boosts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA increased its Freeport-McMoRan stake by 530.1% in the fourth quarter, ending with 96,002 shares worth about $4.88 million.
• Several large institutional investors also added to their positions, and hedge funds and other institutions own 80.77% of Freeport-McMoRan’s shares.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on FCX: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with a $67.31 average price target, while the company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations and continues paying a quarterly dividend.

Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 530.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 96,002 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 80,767 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management Switzerland SA's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $4,876,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $6,619,611,000 after buying an additional 1,572,769 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after buying an additional 395,226 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of 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 during 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 subject of several analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Barclays began coverage on Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $67.31.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $70.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.32, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $64.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.58. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.15 and a 52 week high of $72.09.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

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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