Michael S. Ryan Inc. Acquires 1,487 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Michael S. Ryan Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,022 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,487 shares during the quarter. Michael S. Ryan Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $595,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $139,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,255,529 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 34.9% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,943,074 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $288,833,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,560 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock traded up $1.03 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.77. The company had a trading volume of 14,899,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,623,746. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.81. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $36.26 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.86.

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, topping 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 return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 EPS 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 given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a boost from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 21.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on FCX. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of 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, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.96.

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.