Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 66,699 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,699 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $84,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,436,455,000 after acquiring an additional 529,099 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,028,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $536,038,000 after purchasing an additional 530,676 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $38.86 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.26 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $55.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.74.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. This is a positive change from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Six investment 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.92.

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.