Franklin Resources Inc. Reduces Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Franklin Resources trimmed its stake in Freeport‑McMoRan by 18.7% in Q3, selling 6,529,241 shares and ending the quarter with 28,462,109 shares (~1.98%) valued at $1.116 billion.
• Major institutions like Vanguard, Fisher, State Street, BNY Mellon and DZ BANK generally increased positions and institutional ownership stands at about 80.77%, while company insiders have been net sellers (603,140 shares worth ~$37.66M in the last 90 days).
• Wall Street has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average target of $62.59, and several firms recently raised price targets (e.g., BofA to $81, UBS to $70, Jefferies to $76).

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 18.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,462,109 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 6,529,241 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.98% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,116,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,760,188 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $5,049,975,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776,241 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,480,995,000 after purchasing an additional 899,699 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,787,174 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,678,474,000 after purchasing an additional 320,514 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,671,223 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $849,945,000 after purchasing an additional 435,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $761,623,000 after purchasing an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.0%

NYSE FCX opened at $62.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $89.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.41. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $69.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.19 and a 200-day moving average of $49.66.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,917,475.70. The trade was a 37.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total value of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. The trade was a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.

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