Wolverine Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• Wolverine Asset Management LLC significantly increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 100%, owning 24,000 shares worth $909,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the first quarter.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.54, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.45, with revenues of $7.58 billion, reflecting a growth of 14.5% compared to the previous year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, leading to an annualized dividend of $0.60, resulting in a yield of 1.4% with a payout ratio of 22.73%.

Wolverine Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 100.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,000 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% during the first 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 purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,354.9% during the first quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 2,641,129 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $100,001,000 after buying an additional 2,459,598 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,968,781 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $453,138,000 after buying an additional 2,133,846 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 125,042,285 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,734,101,000 after buying an additional 1,822,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.5%

NYSE:FCX opened at $41.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $60.11 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $42.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.06. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during 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%. The company's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently 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 on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. UBS Group cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Eight 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

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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