Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 181,204 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,301,142 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 181,204 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.16% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $86,776,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 240.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 80,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,994,000 after acquiring an additional 56,475 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $282,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,252 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 14,418 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $720,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.1% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 6,340 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $39.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $57.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.18 and a 200 day moving average of $41.98. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.98 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 23.26%.

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.