Meyer Handelman Co. Cuts Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Meyer Handelman Co. trimmed its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 9.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 321,313 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 34,067 shares during the quarter. Meyer Handelman Co.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $12,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock traded up $1.68 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $40.16. 15,293,297 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,457,168. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $36.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.38. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $53.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

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.