Simmons Bank Invests $834,000 in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Simmons Bank bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 14,189 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $834,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,014,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924,573 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $721,806,000 after purchasing an additional 7,192,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PointState Capital LP acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth about $198,523,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $62.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.06. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $72.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. CICC Research reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $66.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.36.

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.