Employees Retirement System of Texas Boosts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,488,802 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 297,172 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.10% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $56,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after buying an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $162,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,103 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $29.14 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.25 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $52.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.61.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.