Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Increases Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 3,294 shares during the quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $200,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $174,000. Guidance Capital Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 13,544 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $570,000 after buying an additional 1,815 shares during the period. Quantum Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantum Private Wealth LLC now owns 21,360 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $909,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Finally, Scissortail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,568,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.54.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $0.40 on Wednesday, hitting $49.81. The company had a trading volume of 15,793,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,708,850. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $52.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.87 and a 200 day moving average of $39.68. The company has a market cap of $71.45 billion, a PE ratio of 39.09, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 23.62%.

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.