Empirical Finance LLC Buys 1,055 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,387 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,243 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.8% during the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 29,041 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,342 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,675,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,833 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% in the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 17,401 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $818,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Barn Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at $241,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FCX. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group raised shares of 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 report on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.3 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $42.69 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.29 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $46.63 and a 200 day moving average of $47.37. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.