Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Grows Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 339,089 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,853 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $16,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of FCX stock opened at $44.20 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.04 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $46.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.89. The stock has a market cap of $63.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.91.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for 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%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.