Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Makes New $457,000 Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,550 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $457,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 876 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on FCX. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.01.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $40.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.55. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $49.21.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 7.84%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.13%.

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.