Public Sector Pension Investment Board Boosts Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 482.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 322,621 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 267,200 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $16,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at about $423,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.0% during the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 7,833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 239.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 291,025 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $13,684,000 after purchasing an additional 205,286 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 70.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 65,178 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,065,000 after purchasing an additional 26,849 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Six research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $43.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.97. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.04 and a 1-year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

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.