Wright Investors Service Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,998 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,723 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $99,000. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,319,066 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $64,107,000 after purchasing an additional 73,340 shares during the period. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 16,265 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $39.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. The business’s 50-day moving average is $41.83 and its 200 day moving average is $44.53. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. This is a boost from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.90%.

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.