Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 56,499 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,343,109 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,499 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $502,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $51.34 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.77 billion, a PE ratio of 45.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.89. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.44.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FCX. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.