Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 31.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 2.60% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,897,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after acquiring an additional 622,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,450,384,000 after acquiring an additional 690,736 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,669,550 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,601,087,000 after buying an additional 238,997 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on FCX shares. Argus raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $63.37 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $63.48 and a 200-day moving average of $58.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $72.09. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.