Wallace Advisory Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Wallace Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,478 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,138 shares during the quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,436,455,000 after acquiring an additional 529,099 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $595,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,028,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $536,038,000 after purchasing an additional 530,676 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.1 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $39.40 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.53. The stock has a market cap of $56.61 billion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.26 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during 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 revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. This is a boost from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on FCX. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.96.

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.