Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases 23,437 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 602,375 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,437 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $35,408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FCX. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 221,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $11,267,000 after purchasing an additional 73,002 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 34.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,062,916 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $62,478,000 after purchasing an additional 272,726 shares in the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,857,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 205.4% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 317,429 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $16,122,000 after purchasing an additional 213,477 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $62.54 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.15 and a fifty-two week high of $72.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 14.78%.

Trending Headlines about Freeport-McMoRan

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: FCX reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $0.74 and revenue of $7.03 billion, both ahead of Wall Street estimates, helped by higher realized copper and gold prices. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the Grasberg ramp remains on schedule, U.S. operations are improving, and the brownfield copper pipeline is expanding, which supports longer-term production growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on FCX to $73 from $70, signaling continued analyst confidence in the stock’s upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent writeups highlighted strong income growth, free cash flow, and the benefit of firmer copper prices, reinforcing the investment case for FCX. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on FCX shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Finally, CICC Research decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.18.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.