Leavell Investment Management Inc. Acquires 1,375 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 79,185 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,375 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth approximately $417,752,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,396,309 shares in the last quarter. Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $197,966,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth approximately $162,464,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $46.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $66.62 billion, a PE ratio of 33.84, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.58.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Thursday, September 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.