Weiss Asset Management LP Invests $1.58 Million in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 31,639 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,579,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.5% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 273,736 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $13,304,000 after purchasing an additional 21,438 shares in the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.1% in the 2nd quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 10,900 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 32.6% during the 2nd quarter. Signature Wealth Management Partners LLC now owns 6,100 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 25.7% in the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 35,222 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,712,000 after purchasing an additional 7,210 shares during the period. Finally, Strong Tower Advisory Services purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth $3,641,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $42.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.71, a PEG ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 1.86. 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 one year low of $36.04 and a one year high of $55.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.47.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.90%.

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.