Everstar Asset Management LLC Raises Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Everstar Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,338 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 561 shares during the quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $1,436,455,000 after buying an additional 529,099 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $1,348,522,000 after buying an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 4.0 %

NYSE FCX opened at $38.36 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.98. The company has a market capitalization of $55.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.98 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.26%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.