Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Bought by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 190.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 2.54% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,431,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FCX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target 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. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 4.9%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $56.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.90. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week 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 cap of $80.95 billion, a PE ratio of 37.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. 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 currently 19.87%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the sale, the chairman owned 3,509,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $220,372,673.20. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

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.