Lodge Hill Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Lodge Hill Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 250,000 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $9,520,000. Freeport-McMoRan accounts for 2.6% of Lodge Hill Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 66,699 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during 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. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.39.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX traded down $0.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $32.70. The stock had a trading volume of 7,182,387 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,863,020. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $46.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.38. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is presently 23.26%.

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.