Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Stock Position Reduced by Aperture Investors LLC

Key Points

• Aperture Investors LLC has reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 25%, now holding approximately $1.83 million worth of shares.
• Freeport-McMoRan reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.54, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.45, with revenues rising 14.5% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors own 80.77% of Freeport-McMoRan's stock, with significant acquisitions by firms such as Nuveen LLC and Price T Rowe Associates Inc. in the first quarter.

Aperture Investors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 25.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,260 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 16,114 shares during the period. Aperture Investors LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Dagco Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth $37,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.2% in the 1st quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Stifel Canada raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $0.50 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $44.90. 12,145,014 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,512,555. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $52.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.47. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $43.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.68. The company has a market cap of $64.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.59.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.73%.

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.