Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,895 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 23,818 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at $25,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $43.60 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.38 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $46.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.49. The stock has a market cap of $62.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.91.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 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.