Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 53.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,916,291 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 670,578 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $120,516,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Steph & Co. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth $34,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,795,951. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 value of $334,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,000. This trade represents a 11.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 26,600 shares of company stock worth $1,802,012 over the last quarter. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. CICC Research cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of FCX opened at $76.68 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $110.11 billion, a PE ratio of 37.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.37. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.15 and a fifty-two week high of $77.33.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

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

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.