StoneX Group Inc. Acquires 2,601 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

StoneX Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,467 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,601 shares during the quarter. StoneX Group Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during 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 period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $38.09 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.98 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.92. The stock has a market cap of $54.74 billion, a PE ratio of 29.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 23.26%.

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.