LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC Buys 470 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PFG Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $872,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 20,277 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 36,514 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 12,965 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $494,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $33.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $48.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.04 and its 200-day moving average is $40.86. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 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%. Equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on FCX. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.88.

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.