Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Purchased by Madison Asset Management LLC

Madison Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,628 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,645 shares during the period. Madison Asset Management LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,122,922,000 after acquiring an additional 688,240 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $916,037,000 after acquiring an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Canada raised Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.7%

FCX stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $44.87. 16,007,915 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,786,993. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $52.61. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

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.