Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 16,400 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $625,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Titleist Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 28,638 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after buying an additional 2,478 shares during the period. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 325,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $12,376,000 after acquiring an additional 74,000 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,695,017 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $102,627,000 after acquiring an additional 77,586 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Old West Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Old West Investment Management LLC now owns 67,833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 5,853 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.61.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 13.0 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $29.14 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.49 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.73.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.