Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Decreases Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV trimmed its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 140,564 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 2,328 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. True Vision MN LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $462,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 41,242 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,004,000 after purchasing an additional 5,478 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 68.2% in the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,553,000 after purchasing an additional 12,958 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.7% in the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,269 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.79.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.4 %

FCX opened at $44.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market cap of $63.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.39, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.05.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

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.