Man Group plc Grows Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Man Group plc grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 107.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,212,246 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 627,040 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned about 0.08% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $46,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedmont Private Capital raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 16,726 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 1,665 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $355,000. Cooper Financial Group raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 13,379 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $784,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FCX. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.2%

FCX stock traded down $0.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.01. 13,547,607 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,647,592. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.47, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 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.