Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 414,140 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,621,704 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 414,140 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.18% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $111,606,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $28,000. Webster Bank N. A. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 6,469.2% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 854 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $59.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE FCX traded down $2.47 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $49.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 16,741,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,161,316. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.20, a P/E/G ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. The company's 50-day moving average is $44.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.51. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $52.52.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

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.