Magnetar Financial LLC Takes $1.70 Million Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 35,042 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,703,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $45.14 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.95, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.