Schroder Investment Management Group Has $152.75 Million Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 87.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,115,008 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,921,792 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $152,749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFG Advisors boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.0% in the third quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 6,586 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 23.4% in the third quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 149,841 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,877,000 after buying an additional 28,412 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 426.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 81,892 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,212,000 after acquiring an additional 66,331 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 58,825 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,307,000 after acquiring an additional 15,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Black Swift Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,588,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on FCX. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Argus upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. CICC Research boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.59.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total value of $4,839,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,141,558.12. This trade represents a 25.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of FCX opened at $60.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.53. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $69.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.87%.

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.