Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes $18.09 Million Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 461,276 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,091,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 876 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% in the third quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. CICC Research lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $51.60 to $42.30 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Monday, December 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.30.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of FCX opened at $60.05 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $86.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.29, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.45. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $60.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th will be given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 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 21.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares in the company, valued at $1,847,349.26. This trade represents a 19.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,059.06. The trade was a 21.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.