Missouri Trust & Investment Co Boosts Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 22.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,086 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FCX. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $25,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price 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. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Six equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $1.68 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $43.22. 3,540,946 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,872,257. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.38 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $62.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day moving average of $46.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.54.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders 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 0.69%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

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.