Sapient Capital LLC Makes New $200,000 Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,707 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,451,285,000 after buying an additional 305,912 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,338,465 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,033,858,000 after acquiring an additional 472,160 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $662,123,000 after acquiring an additional 709,114 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,533,638 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $628,278,000 after purchasing an additional 753,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,698,016 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $355,838,000 after purchasing an additional 4,410,429 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $50.02 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $52.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $42.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.75 billion, a PE ratio of 39.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 23.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.71.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.