American Trust Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

American Trust Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,878 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,270 shares during the quarter. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at approximately $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after buying an additional 66,699 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.4 %

NYSE FCX opened at $37.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.60. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during 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%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on FCX. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.09.

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.