Mountaineer Partners Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mountaineer Partners Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 246,840 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,795 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan accounts for 6.9% of Mountaineer Partners Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $9,400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after buying an additional 642,776 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 688,240 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $916,037,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FCX. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE FCX traded down $0.59 on Thursday, hitting $38.47. 13,145,316 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,667,062. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.39 and a 200-day moving average of $39.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $55.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is presently 24.79%.

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.