Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Purchased by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 32.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,737,410 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 429,001 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $88,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 14,992 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.50 to $58.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.86.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $68.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $98.15 billion, a PE ratio of 36.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.35. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.15 and a 12 month high of $72.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.05.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 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.