Rathbones Group PLC Buys 45,423 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,265,927 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 45,423 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.09% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $48,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 13.0 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $29.14 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.71. The firm has a market cap of $41.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.59, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.25 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.61.

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.