Employees Retirement System of Texas Increases Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 24.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,488,802 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 297,172 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned 0.10% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $56,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.88.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $2.01 on Friday, reaching $33.36. 26,222,183 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,900,505. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.86, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.10 and a 200 day moving average of $41.06. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.26%.

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.