Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by USS Investment Management Ltd

USS Investment Management Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 276,304 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 30,095 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $10,529,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,123,445,000 after buying an additional 2,191,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.1%

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.37 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.81. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $54.95. 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 capitalization of $55.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.