Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Increases Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 739,437 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,651 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina owned approximately 0.05% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $28,158,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $31.28 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on FCX. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.88.

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.