Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Boosts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 202.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,620,072 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,084,316 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $61,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 36,514 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 48,794 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,858,000 after buying an additional 2,579 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 825,151 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $31,488,000 after acquiring an additional 149,223 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $619,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz SE purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth $5,610,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $38.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The stock has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.98 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.97.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

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.