Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Boosts Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 158.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,346 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 825 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $67,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,675,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,833 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,734,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after purchasing an additional 4,396,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,454,789 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $679,664,000 after purchasing an additional 200,877 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $46.27 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $66.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.91.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

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.