Saxon Interests Inc. Makes New Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Saxon Interests Inc. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,710 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $26,000. KB Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Retirement Group LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 97.1% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 670 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the period. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.4 %

FCX traded up $1.10 during trading on Thursday, reaching $46.99. The stock had a trading volume of 20,164,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,994,903. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $67.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.09 and a beta of 2.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.62. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $47.19.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.09%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 23.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.95.

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.