Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 18,368 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $695,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $351,041,000 after buying an additional 6,486,011 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after buying an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $619,682,000 after buying an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $40.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.32. The stock has a market cap of $58.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.82.

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.