Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA Makes New Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 54,312 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,192,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,434,000 after acquiring an additional 9,924,573 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $721,806,000 after purchasing an additional 7,192,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PointState Capital LP bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $198,523,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FCX. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $62.31 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $72.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $64.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The company had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.