Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Bought by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,273,080 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,969 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $163,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth $417,752,000. Capital World Investors raised 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 worth $712,600,000 after purchasing an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at $197,966,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at $162,464,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $43.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.49. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.38 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $62.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. 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 (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.90%.

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.