Schear Investment Advisers LLC Grows Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,817 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 604 shares during the quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 404.6% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 208,242 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,395,000 after acquiring an additional 166,975 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 49,387 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.4% in the third quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 422,222 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $21,077,000 after purchasing an additional 82,917 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 240.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 80,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,994,000 after purchasing an additional 56,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.7% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 216,070 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $10,786,000 after buying an additional 15,521 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $42.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $46.63 and a 200 day moving average of $47.35. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.29 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.17, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.91.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. 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.