Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Buys 32,887 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 37.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 119,921 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 32,887 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $5,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 1,299 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,041,275 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $214,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133,551 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 71.3% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $527,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on FCX shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Argus raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.2 %

FCX traded down $0.08 on Thursday, hitting $51.15. The company had a trading volume of 3,560,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,364,661. The company has a market cap of $73.37 billion, a PE ratio of 45.35, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 2.02. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.51.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

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.