University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. Raises Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 2,282.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,344 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,784 shares during the quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $508,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,122,922,000 after acquiring an additional 688,240 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $916,037,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.11 during trading on Thursday, reaching $39.00. 3,924,004 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,426,885. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock's fifty day moving average is $36.42 and its 200 day moving average is $38.52. The firm has a market cap of $56.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $53.29.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.36.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.