Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Reduces Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp decreased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,201 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 504 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $8,219,000 after acquiring an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $84,085,000 after buying an additional 66,699 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,864,000 after buying an additional 18,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.65.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $33.80 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.28. 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 $48.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.26%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.