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

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in 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 boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in 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 grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,191,926 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock traded down $0.15 on Tuesday, hitting $42.19. 9,402,404 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,060,778. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.53 and a 200 day moving average of $38.28. The stock has a market cap of $60.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.71, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 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 firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.82.

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.