Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 566,210 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 4,119 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $27,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. RFP Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 261.3% during the second quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 209.9% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 657 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $41.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.40. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $44.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.89. The company has a market capitalization of $59.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

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.