ProShare Advisors LLC Buys 33,749 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 260,243 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,749 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $9,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $3,388,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $351,041,000 after buying an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 159,536 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $6,075,000 after buying an additional 8,195 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 220.3% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 40,467 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,541,000 after buying an additional 27,834 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.37. The company had a trading volume of 7,847,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,588,529. 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 company has a market capitalization of $55.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $54.95. The company's 50-day moving average is $36.56 and its 200-day moving average is $38.81.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price target (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Five equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.36.

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.