AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 127.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 792,901 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 444,763 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.06% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $30,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 66,699 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $11,864,000 after purchasing an additional 18,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $37.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $36.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 24.79%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.