First City Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

First City Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,451 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,219,000 after purchasing an additional 14,501 shares during the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% in the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $7,375,000 after purchasing an additional 85,542 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,819,000 after buying an additional 71,883 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $754,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,604,000 after acquiring an additional 12,887 shares during the last quarter. 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 several recent analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX remained flat at $37.88 on Friday. 4,629,986 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,639,386. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $54.43 billion, a PE ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.86. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.26 and a 1-year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 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.