Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Purchases 323,670 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 321.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 424,494 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 323,670 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $21,191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 74.0% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 1,740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.6% in the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,139 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 12.0% in the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,217 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 57,547.9% during the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 27,671 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 27,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 45.2% during the first quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 3,078 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.2 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $48.53 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $45.74 and its 200-day moving average is $47.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.71 billion, a PE ratio of 42.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FCX. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Six 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.92.

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.