American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 84,207 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 20.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 504,987 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 84,207 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $19,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 80,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,994,000 after acquiring an additional 56,475 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.5% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 85,373 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,262,000 after purchasing an additional 10,156 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 339,089 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $16,927,000 after buying an additional 3,853 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 185.0% in the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 18,742 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $936,000 after buying an additional 12,166 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 153.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 540,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $26,949,000 after buying an additional 326,653 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FCX. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.98 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.98.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.26%.

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.