Mizuho Bank Ltd. Makes New $26,000 Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 670 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,219,000 after buying an additional 14,501 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 66,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,864,000 after purchasing an additional 18,852 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 13.0 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $29.14 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.74. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.49 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $41.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $52.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.61.

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.