Bridges Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 42,665 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,074,000 after purchasing an additional 5,316 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.6% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 60,822 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,956,000 after buying an additional 6,312 shares during the period. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 10.8% during the second quarter. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC now owns 222,185 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $10,798,000 after acquiring an additional 21,700 shares during the last quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $206,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 79,394 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,859,000 after acquiring an additional 18,461 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Raymond James cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.79.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $44.53 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.55 and a 200-day moving average of $47.23. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $63.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

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.