Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Grows Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 167,334 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,798 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the fourth 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. raised its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $916,037,000 after acquiring an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $45.86. 7,607,321 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,440,278. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company'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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company 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.