Phoenix Financial Ltd. Buys 2,459,598 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 1,354.9%, owning 2,641,129 shares valued at approximately $100 million as of the latest report.
• Other hedge funds have also significantly raised their holdings, with Wellington Management Group LLP boosting its stake by 237.4%, now owning shares valued at $351 million.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently reported earnings of $0.54 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, reflecting a 1.35% yield.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 1,354.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,641,129 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,459,598 shares during the quarter. Freeport-McMoRan comprises 1.5% of Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Phoenix Financial Ltd. owned approximately 0.18% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $100,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position 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 during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

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 transaction of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Canada raised Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.5%

FCX traded down $0.64 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,763,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,801,874. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $42.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.60, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%. The company's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is 22.73%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.