Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Invests $295,000 in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 5,909 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 55.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,229 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,421,000 after acquiring an additional 10,820 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 566,772 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $26,650,000 after purchasing an additional 21,889 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.5% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,344 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.7% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 54,730 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,573,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 479.9% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 282,707 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $13,293,000 after purchasing an additional 233,955 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of FCX stock opened at $43.60 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.38 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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 given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

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.