Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.6%, owning approximately $118.94 million worth of shares as of the latest SEC filing.
• Major institutional investors like Nuveen LLC and Price T Rowe Associates also raised their positions, with Nuveen purchasing $366.96 million in new shares during the same period.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently declared a $0.15 quarterly dividend, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.4%, with a payout ratio of 22.73%.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,141,547 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 446,530 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.22% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $118,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $366,959,000. 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $830,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares during the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,354.9% in the 1st quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 2,641,129 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $100,001,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,598 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,968,781 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $453,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,133,846 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FCX. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.5%

FCX opened at $42.10 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $42.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.11. The company has a market capitalization of $60.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.89, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.63. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week 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.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%. Freeport-McMoRan's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

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