Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Takes $36.30 Million Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 727,173 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,300,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.05% of Freeport-McMoRan at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. now owns 47,144 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,777 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after buying an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,681 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $44.20 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $36.04 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.85. The firm has a market cap of $63.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 1.91.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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 report on Thursday, September 19th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.