California State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 24,704 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,774,084 shares of the natural resource company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,704 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.19% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $105,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $84,085,000 after buying an additional 66,699 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $11,864,000 after acquiring an additional 18,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 642,776 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of FCX traded up $1.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.63. 11,931,176 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,749,605. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.66. The stock has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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 1.59%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.