NCP Inc. Buys 504 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

NCP Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 16.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,504 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the quarter. NCP Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,965,717,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,028,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $536,038,000 after purchasing an additional 530,676 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,343,109 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $502,675,000 after purchasing an additional 56,499 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,223,038 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $410,494,000 after purchasing an additional 127,251 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 34.9% during the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,943,074 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $288,833,000 after buying an additional 1,538,560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $43.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.04 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $62.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $46.90 and its 200-day moving average is $47.05.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. 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 presently 21.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, 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. Six investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

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.