Groupe la Francaise Raises Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 25.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the quarter. Groupe la Francaise’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $5,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth approximately $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 valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at about $40,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Clarkson Capital upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.73.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $44.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.31, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.80 and a 200 day moving average of $42.10. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $49.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.