GAMMA Investing LLC Makes New Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 8,496 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 41.2% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.2% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,244 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 12.8% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 184,685 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,887,000 after buying an additional 20,931 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 250,570 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $9,344,000 after buying an additional 80,898 shares during the period. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.7% during the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279,168 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,410,000 after buying an additional 12,414 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.77.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $48.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.14. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $52.42. The company has a market cap of $69.20 billion, a PE ratio of 42.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.