BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp cut its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 239,707 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 35,033 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $11,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on FCX. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE FCX opened at $44.20 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $63.51 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a P/E/G ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.04 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $46.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share 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%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.90%.

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.