Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stock Position Lifted by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 9.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company's stock after buying an additional 2,366,187 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.90% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,348,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% during 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 during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FCX. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $53.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded down $0.49 on Friday, reaching $41.59. 9,545,411 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,794,989. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.76 billion, a PE ratio of 30.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.86. 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 company's 50 day moving average is $45.69 and its 200-day moving average is $46.27. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.26 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during 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%. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is 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.