Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Bought by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 308.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,124 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,512 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,463,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,451,285,000 after acquiring an additional 305,912 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,543,676,000 after acquiring an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030,451 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 16,647,339 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $708,677,000 after acquiring an additional 595,395 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,758,947 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $458,008,000 after acquiring an additional 592,151 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on FCX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Bernstein Bank boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.93.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,331,577.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $49.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.70. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $71.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.96.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

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.