Oxbow Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Oxbow Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,647 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $5,675,241,000 after buying an additional 1,210,833 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after buying an additional 4,396,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 200,877 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock traded down $2.22 on Friday, hitting $46.36. 16,197,353 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,333,747. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.58. The firm has a market cap of $66.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.84, a PEG ratio of 2.00 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FCX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. 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. 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.