Wright Investors Service Inc. Increases Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Wright Investors Service Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $139,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255,529 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 34.9% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,943,074 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $288,833,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,560 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,965,717,000 after buying an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $39.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.53. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.26 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $56.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 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.