Eastern Bank Boosts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Eastern Bank raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 10.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,831 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,091 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cooper Financial Group increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 13,379 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $509,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $355,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 16,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 1,665 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,282.0% during the 4th quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,382 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 205,312 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $7,818,000 after purchasing an additional 2,228 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $39.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $41.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.53. 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 $36.26 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $56.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.76, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

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.