Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Increases Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 88.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 919,779 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 430,442 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.06% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $44,701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $25,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% during 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 during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Raymond James lowered their price objective 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. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.79.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.4 %

FCX opened at $44.53 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $43.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.16. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $63.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

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.