Capital International Ltd. CA Buys 6,005 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Capital International Ltd. CA lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 110,129 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,005 shares during the period. Capital International Ltd. CA’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $4,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after purchasing an additional 20,894 shares during the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $27,572,000 after purchasing an additional 240,340 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $279,977,000 after purchasing an additional 102,466 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $201,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,857.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,324,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $56,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297,737 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.50.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.6 %

FCX traded up $0.82 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $50.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,670,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,448,283. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.43, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $50.61 and its 200-day moving average is $43.67.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.