AIA Group Ltd Purchases 39,624 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

AIA Group Ltd raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 31.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,630 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 39,624 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,760,188 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,049,975,000 after buying an additional 1,776,241 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,480,995,000 after purchasing an additional 899,699 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,450,384,000 after purchasing an additional 690,736 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,671,223 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $849,945,000 after purchasing an additional 435,963 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $55.40 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.21. The stock has a market cap of $79.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.41. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS 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 business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FCX. Argus raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. CICC Research boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total transaction of $9,888,864.00. Following the transaction, the chairman 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total value of $4,839,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,141,558.12. This represents a 25.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 over the last ninety days. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.