Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Acquired by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 2.22% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,214,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.33.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $35.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $50.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The stock's 50-day moving average is $36.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.18. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $55.24.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.26%.

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.

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