Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Lowers Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA trimmed its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 725,473 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 29,550 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 0.05% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $42,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after buying an additional 395,226 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after buying an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $62.92 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.15 and a 1 year high of $72.28. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $64.33 and its 200 day moving average is $61.06. The stock has a market cap of $90.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.47, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays began coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.36.

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.