Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 81.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,840 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 1,720 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $25,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FCX. Raymond James increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of 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. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $46.57 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.90.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.90%.

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.