Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Acquired by ARS Investment Partners LLC

ARS Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 15.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,072,053 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 146,959 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan makes up approximately 3.3% of ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $63,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,244,504,000 after purchasing an additional 622,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after purchasing an additional 395,226 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Freedom Capital upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Barclays initiated coverage on Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $66.00 price target (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.81.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $68.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.01. The company has a market capitalization of $98.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.15 and a 1 year high of $72.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.