Impax Asset Management Group plc Takes Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Impax Asset Management Group plc bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 72,471 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,558,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the second quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,724 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,806,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth $1,715,000. Ninepoint Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $5,067,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.1% in the second quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 10,523 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $662,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MJP Associates Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at $206,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,951. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 36,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,520,000. The trade was a 11.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 26,600 shares of company stock worth $1,802,012 over the last three months. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on FCX. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $71.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $102.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.15 and a twelve month high of $72.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.78%.

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.