Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 142.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,515,103 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.30% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $162,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $99,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.9% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,319,066 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $64,107,000 after buying an additional 73,340 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 18.3% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 16,265 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $790,000 after acquiring an additional 2,514 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth approximately $619,000. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,367 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 2,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $39.47 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $56.72 billion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.53. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.26 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.96.

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.