Morningstar Investment Management LLC Invests $225,000 in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Morningstar Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,199 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth approximately $366,959,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,046,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054,537 shares in the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2,140.8% during the first quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 5,929,623 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $224,496,000 after purchasing an additional 5,665,000 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,421,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $830,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $42.01 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $42.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $50.12. The company has a market cap of $60.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.58.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 22.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on FCX. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Hsbc Global Res cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. HSBC dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $46.00 to $43.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.56.

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.