Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New $239,000 Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,908 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 261.3% in the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $42.66 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.01. The company has a market cap of $61.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.75, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley raised Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.07.

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.