LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Takes Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,130 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 150.4% in the 3rd quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 576 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Seven 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.6 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.64 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.10. The company had a trading volume of 6,467,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,481,848. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.26 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.74. The firm has a market cap of $56.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.