Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Sold by Private Advisor Group LLC

Key Points

• Private Advisor Group LLC reduced its Freeport-McMoRan stake by 28.3% in the first quarter, selling 25,408 shares and leaving it with 64,409 shares valued at about $3.79 million.
• Other institutional investors remain heavily invested in FCX, with hedge funds and institutions owning about 80.77% of the company’s stock.
• Analysts are generally positive on Freeport-McMoRan, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $68.50; the company also recently beat earnings estimates and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share.

Private Advisor Group LLC cut its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 28.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 64,409 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 25,408 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after buying an additional 1,572,769 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after acquiring an additional 622,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after acquiring an additional 395,226 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $74.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.50.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $57.45 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.15 and a 12-month high of $72.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.58.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.24 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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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