Capital World Investors Has $916.04 Million Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Capital World Investors owned about 1.67% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $916,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FCX. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $84,085,000 after acquiring an additional 66,699 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 18,852 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.39.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $35.16. 21,635,900 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,882,649. The company's 50-day moving average price is $36.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.18. 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 $27.66 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is 23.26%.

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.