Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,646 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth approximately $417,752,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after buying an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $197,966,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at $162,464,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.1 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $44.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $64.52 billion, a PE ratio of 32.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.38 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $46.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.54.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business 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 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.