Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Purchased by Longbow Finance SA

Key Points

• Longbow Finance SA increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 52.9%, owning 52,211 shares valued at approximately $1.98 million after acquiring an additional 18,066 shares.
• Wall Street analysts have varying views on Freeport-McMoRan, with consensus ratings including eight buy ratings and three strong buy ratings, while multiple firms have adjusted their price targets for the stock.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, representing a yield of 1.35%, with a payout ratio of 24.79%.

Longbow Finance SA lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 52.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,211 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 18,066 shares during the period. Longbow Finance SA's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $351,041,000 after buying an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 2,642,810 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,123,445,000 after acquiring an additional 2,191,926 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $44.87. 16,007,915 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,985,843. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company has a market capitalization of $64.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.98. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 22.73%.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.