Northern Trust Corp Acquires 1,335,181 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,441,112 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,335,181 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.14% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $626,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position 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 worth $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $619,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $162,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,103 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Argus lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of FCX traded up $0.41 on Thursday, reaching $36.44. The stock had a trading volume of 11,609,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,799,440. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.66. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. 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.