Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 10,163 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,678,407 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,163 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $63,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Palogic Value Management L.P. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 20,277 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 36,514 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,451,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.2% in the first quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 12,965 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.5%

NYSE FCX traded down $0.69 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $45.11. 19,619,671 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,503,690. The business's 50-day moving average is $40.18 and its 200-day moving average is $38.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.