Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Purchases 1,084,316 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 202.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,620,072 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 1,084,316 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned about 0.11% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $61,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 4.0 %

NYSE FCX opened at $38.36 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.98 and a 1 year high of $55.24. 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.14 and a 200 day moving average of $41.97.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.