Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 193.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 654,866 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 431,574 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $25,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% during the second quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 30,333 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 45,133 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 45,095 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 6,658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Mengis Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,404 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,349,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FCX shares. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Clarkson Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.9%

NYSE FCX opened at $59.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.81. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $69.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. The company has a market capitalization of $85.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 19.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total transaction of $9,888,864.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 3,356,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $216,975,679.35. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,917,475.70. The trade was a 37.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 565,145 shares of company stock worth $35,839,918. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.