First Financial Bank Trust Division Buys 740 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

First Financial Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 48,240 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,675,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,833 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the first 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 during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,369,312,000 after purchasing an additional 976,592 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,734,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 16,647,339 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $708,677,000 after buying an additional 595,395 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $50.82 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.61. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.97, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FCX shares. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.93.

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.