Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 17.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,340 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $423,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth about $26,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.0% in the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 7,833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Finally, First City Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.6% in the first quarter. First City Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,106 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $43.75 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock has a market cap of $62.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.04 and a fifty-two week 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

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.