Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Bought by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 21.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 2.22% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,214,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $4,692,191,000 after buying an additional 642,776 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $916,037,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.2 %

FCX traded down $0.44 on Monday, hitting $36.91. The company had a trading volume of 4,850,730 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,855,858. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.88. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.