Montgomery Investment Management Inc. Sells 7,000 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Montgomery Investment Management Inc. sold 7,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan, reducing its stake by 5.8%, making Freeport-McMoRan the firm's 18th largest position with holdings valued at $4.89 million.
• Several hedge funds increased their stakes in Freeport-McMoRan, with Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors boosting theirs by 189.9% to a total of 38,773 shares valued at $1.68 million.
• The company's recent earnings report surpassed analyst expectations, with a reported $0.54 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.45, signaling a 14.5% revenue rise year-over-year.

Montgomery Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,730 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Freeport-McMoRan accounts for approximately 1.9% of Montgomery Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Montgomery Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $4,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 189.9% in the second quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 38,773 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 25,400 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 51.3% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 5,260 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,783 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 5,446,597 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $236,110,000 after buying an additional 968,537 shares in the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,704 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 23.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 19,320 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 3,703 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Johnson Rice decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Clarkson Capital restated a "neutral" rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.49.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $39.11 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.54. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $51.45. The company has a market capitalization of $56.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 22.73%.

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.

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