Edge Capital Group LLC Purchases New Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Edge Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 246,051 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,958,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $417,752,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $712,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,396,309 shares during the last quarter. Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth approximately $197,966,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $162,464,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock opened at $44.53 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.16. 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 one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $63.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.79.

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.