Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Increases Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,548,963 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,906 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $58,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,219,000 after purchasing an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% in the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $7,375,000 after buying an additional 85,542 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,819,000 after buying an additional 71,883 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $754,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,604,000 after acquiring an additional 12,887 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE:FCX traded up $0.98 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $39.72. 7,802,404 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,087,845. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $57.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.86. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.26 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $42.32 and its 200-day moving average is $44.81.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. 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 payout ratio is presently 21.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

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.