Confluence Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,414 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $417,752,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $712,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth about $197,966,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $162,464,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $46.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $66.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.58. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.90%.

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.