Perennial Investment Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 5,567 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Perennial Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,567 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 131.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,414,862 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $395,765,000 after acquiring an additional 5,916,905 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $113,926,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 105,191,820 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,303,397,000 after buying an additional 2,667,362 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $98,937,000. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 10,009,746 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $380,411,000 after purchasing an additional 2,032,476 shares in the last quarter. 77.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $40.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.73 billion, a PE ratio of 27.73 and a beta of 2.03. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.70 and its 200-day moving average is $39.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 2.94 and a quick ratio of 1.72. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.03 and a 1 year high of $46.73.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The natural resource company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.01). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 9.63%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 14th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on FCX. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $38.50 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $41.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.96.

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, as well as oil and gas. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.