Vise Technologies Inc. Acquires New Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 36,239 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,571,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 82.0% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 22,865 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $991,000 after buying an additional 10,303 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,570 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 296,380 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $12,848,000 after acquiring an additional 20,520 shares in the last quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,742,000. Finally, PFG Advisors boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 6,211 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.3%

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $41.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.92, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.45. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $49.12.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 21.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.01.

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.