Easterly Investment Partners LLC Buys 85,542 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 137.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85,542 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake 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 valued at $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in 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 buying an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in 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 period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,454,789 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $679,664,000 after buying an additional 200,877 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE:FCX traded down $2.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $45.73. 5,258,456 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,864,233. The company has a market capitalization of $65.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The business has a 50 day moving average of $46.41 and a 200 day moving average of $47.60.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Six research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

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.