South Plains Financial Inc. Buys New Shares in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 9,480 shares of the natural resource company's stock, valued at approximately $361,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.0% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 10,306 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at $246,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at $754,000. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 155,081 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $7,742,000 after purchasing an additional 8,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 108,235 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $5,403,000 after buying an additional 19,389 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FCX. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $1.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $37.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,931,176 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,746,609. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $36.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.08 billion, a PE 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

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.