Victory Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,366,596 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 3,894,872 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan makes up 0.5% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 1.21% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $882,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FCX. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Key Financial Inc grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 828 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on FCX. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup lowered 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. Freedom Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.86.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $68.28 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.15 and a 1 year high of $72.09. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $64.24 and its 200 day moving average is $59.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.