SpiderRock Advisors LLC Takes Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 30,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $1,524,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. now owns 47,144 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $2,357,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 64,053 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.3% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,243 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FCX shares. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE:FCX traded down $2.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.36. 16,197,353 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,333,747. 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 50-day moving average of $46.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.57. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $66.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.84, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.91.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.