Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Acquires 108,342 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 92.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 225,801 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 108,342 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $10,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 261.3% during the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FCX. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $52.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $50.38 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.83 and a 200-day moving average of $47.61. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24. 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 company has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a PE ratio of 44.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The business 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 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.