Busey Bank Acquires 115,350 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Busey Bank increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 477.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 139,505 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 115,350 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $8,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings 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 boosted 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 buying an additional 9,924,573 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $721,806,000 after acquiring an additional 7,192,955 shares during the period. Finally, PointState Capital LP bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $198,523,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.50 to $58.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $60.88 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.34. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $35.15 and a one year high of $72.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $87.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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