Easterly Investment Partners LLC Has $7.02 Million Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 184,353 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 36,618 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,020,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $162,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,103 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 136.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,635,724 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $81,655,000 after acquiring an additional 942,701 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $41.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.98 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.61 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

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.