Fisher Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 1,030,451 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan makes up approximately 1.2% of Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,371,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CM Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares in the company, valued at $187,438,509.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $187,438,509.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.78% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $48.65. 10,288,702 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,163,893. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.68. The firm has a market cap of $69.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.17, a PEG ratio of 8.09 and a beta of 2.02. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.52. 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 (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. 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.