Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 196,666 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,565,063 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 196,666 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $241,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.6% in the second quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 876 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Johnson Rice lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.01.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.2%

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $41.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.12 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.58. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $49.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.47 and a 200-day moving average of $41.51.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.