Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 15,898 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,534 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 15,898 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 97.1% during the second quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 670 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $50.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 2.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 23.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.54.

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.