Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Purchases 64,906 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,548,963 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,906 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $58,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FCX. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,219,000 after acquiring an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 85,542 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 71,883 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $754,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.5 %

FCX traded up $0.98 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.72. The stock had a trading volume of 7,802,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,087,845. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.81. 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 twelve month low of $36.26 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $57.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.86.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 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.