Close Asset Management Ltd Sells 9,850 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Close Asset Management Ltd cut its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 15.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,431 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 9,850 shares during the quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,023,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings 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 valued at $830,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $45.73 on Wednesday. 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 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.05 and a 200-day moving average of $38.86. The stock has a market cap of $65.71 billion, a PE ratio of 37.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on FCX shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Eight investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.71.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.

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