Federated Hermes Inc. Cuts Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Federated Hermes Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 53.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 335,781 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 392,616 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $12,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. 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 worth $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $916,037,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,942,063 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $830,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,441,112 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $626,078,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,175,580 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $387,486,000 after acquiring an additional 869,691 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $40.04 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $52.61. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market cap of $57.54 billion, a PE ratio of 30.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.63.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.00.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.