Commodities & Metals

Investment Firm Ups Stake in Freeport-McMoRan

Paul Ausick

Published: October 11, 2016 1:28 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 2:32 am

In a Schedule 13-G filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday morning, investment management firm Capital Research and Management Company subsidiary Capital Research Global Investors reported ownership of 139,981,480 shares of common stock in mining and independent oil & gas company Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX).

As of June 29, 2016, Capital Research Global Investors owned 114,175,293 shares of Freeport stock, or 9.12% of the outstanding shares. As of September 30, the firm now owns 10.5% of the outstanding shares and holds more than 5% of the outstanding shares of Freeport on behalf of The Investment Company of America, a Capital Group company. As of June 29, The Investment Company of America held 54,423,245 shares of Freeport’s common stock, or approximately 4.35%.

Freeport’s stock has been coming back from a 12-month low of $3.52 and closed on Monday at $10.19. The stock’s 52-week high is $14.06.

Just last weekend the company settled a 10-day work stoppage at its giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Workers were seeking improvements in working conditions and bonus pay.

That should have been a boost for the stock, but shares have been trending down since posting that 12-month high in late April. Softening copper prices and the company now plans to merge its oil & gas subsidiary into a division of the parent. Freeport has sold more than $6 billion in assets this year, including a $2 billion sale of deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets to Anadarko in a transaction that still needs to be completed.

The stock is down about 3% Tuesday at $9.88. The 12-month consensus price target is $11.46.