Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 13,408 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Congress Asset Management Co. lessened its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 58.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,373 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 13,408 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $4,692,191,000 after buying an additional 642,776 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,122,922,000 after buying an additional 688,240 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $916,037,000 after buying an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.86. 9,721,377 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,381,273. The company's 50 day moving average price is $37.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.28. The firm has a market cap of $58.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.68, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm's revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price target (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.82.

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.