Patton Fund Management Inc. Purchases New Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Patton Fund Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 5,897 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. City Holding Co. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $33,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. CKW Financial Group purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $48.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.74.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $35.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $52.06. The stock has a market cap of $51.34 billion, a PE ratio of 27.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.55.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.73%.

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.