Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Raises Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 9.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,589,190 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 307,735 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $155,591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FCX. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at $366,959,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after buying an additional 6,054,537 shares in the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2,140.8% in the 1st quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 5,929,623 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $224,496,000 after acquiring an additional 5,665,000 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,421,549,000 after acquiring an additional 5,661,958 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $830,726,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642,810 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $41.34 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $49.21. The stock has a market cap of $59.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.97.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FCX. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Dbs Bank decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $51.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.92.

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.