NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Buys 107,852 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 432,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 107,852 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $21,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Brookstone Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,217 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 883 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 57.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 9,709 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 3,557 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 157,645 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $7,412,000 after acquiring an additional 4,547 shares in the last quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $263,000. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.7% during the first quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 14,450 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $46.60. 8,528,919 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,067,925. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.83. The firm has a market cap of $66.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 26.55%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.