Nuveen Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,686,483 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 208,888 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $330,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 59,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,283,000 after purchasing an additional 10,167 shares during the period. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 246,840 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $9,400,000 after purchasing an additional 7,795 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,286,048 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $125,133,000 after purchasing an additional 373,922 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 561,524 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $21,381,000 after purchasing an additional 22,265 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 84.1% during the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,789 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:FCX opened at $38.89 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.36.

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.