Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. Makes New Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 9,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after buying an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924,573 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,366,596 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $882,050,000 after purchasing an additional 3,894,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $185,379,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FCX. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Barclays began coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 price objective on the stock. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, CICC Research lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.31.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $70.16 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $72.09. The company has a market capitalization of $100.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

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

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.