Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Acquired by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 9.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.90% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,348,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% during the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $7,375,000 after buying an additional 85,542 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,604,000 after buying an additional 12,887 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.3% in the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 432,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $21,572,000 after buying an additional 107,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 202,440 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,393,000 after purchasing an additional 35,972 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James raised 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 lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $42.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $60.47 billion, a PE ratio of 30.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.26 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.27.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 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 issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 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.