Independent Advisor Alliance Grows Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 5.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,418 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 746 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew 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 period. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FCX. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank cut their price target on 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. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $43.75 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.04 and a 52-week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.