Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 4.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 66,699 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $84,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. &PARTNERS lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 101.3% during the 2nd quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 9,428 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 4,745 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 114.5% in the second quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 2,810 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth $265,000. Finally, Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.3% during the second quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,721 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FCX. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank dropped 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of FCX stock traded up $0.62 on Friday, hitting $38.86. The stock had a trading volume of 22,180,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,829,802. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.86. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.26 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock's 50 day moving average is $44.49 and its 200-day moving average is $45.72.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from Freeport-McMoRan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is 21.90%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.