Meeder Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 800 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in 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 during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 261.3% in the second quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of FCX opened at $42.66 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.01. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.28 billion, a P/E 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 results 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of 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 research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.07.

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.