Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Trims Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,890 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 750 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6,469.2% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 854 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 122.5% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 930 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bernstein Bank lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded down $2.47 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.94. The stock had a trading volume of 16,744,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,155,595. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $52.52.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

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.