Jackson Square Capital LLC Invests $1.70 Million in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Jackson Square Capital LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 44,883 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,699,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $619,682,000 after buying an additional 4,488,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,123,445,000 after buying an additional 2,191,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on FCX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of FCX stock opened at $40.86 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.28. The company has a market cap of $58.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.