Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Takes $21.98 Million Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI has acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc., purchasing 580,459 shares valued at approximately $21.98 million.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently reported $0.54 earnings per share, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.45, with a 14.5% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, reflecting a 1.4% yield and a payout ratio of 22.73%.

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 580,459 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $21,976,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FCX. City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $37,000. CKW Financial Group purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FCX. Wall Street Zen raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $56.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Stifel Canada upgraded Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX traded down $1.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $44.72. 16,042,709 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,379,598. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.12. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $52.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.59.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is 22.73%.

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.