Sciencast Management LP Sells 25,098 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP reduced its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 38.7%, selling 25,098 shares and leaving it with a total of 39,828 shares valued at approximately $1.51 million.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, which equates to an annualized yield of 1.3%.
• The company's stock opened at $46.68, with a market capitalization of $67.02 billion, and has seen a 52-week high of $52.61 and a low of $27.66.

Sciencast Management LP lowered its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 38.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,828 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 25,098 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FCX. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $366,959,000. Amundi boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after buying an additional 6,054,537 shares in the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2,140.8% in the first quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 5,929,623 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $224,496,000 after buying an additional 5,665,000 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,421,549,000 after buying an additional 5,661,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.7% in 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 buying an additional 2,642,810 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Stifel Canada raised Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of FCX traded up $0.98 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $45.86. 14,918,063 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,230,322. 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 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.84 billion, a PE ratio of 34.74, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.06.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 7.45%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is presently 22.73%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.