Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 46,464 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. has reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 34%, now owning 90,335 shares valued at $3,420,000 after selling 46,464 shares in the first quarter.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently disclosed a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, translating to an annualized amount of $0.60 with a yield of 1.39%.
• Despite mixed ratings from analysts, Freeport-McMoRan's average target price has been set at $51.00, indicating potential for growth following positive quarterly earnings performance.

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 34.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,335 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 46,464 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 83,176 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $3,149,000 after buying an additional 6,310 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 34.2% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 413,419 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $15,652,000 after buying an additional 105,319 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 73,700 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,790,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Princeton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 25,980 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $984,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor OS LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at $282,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded down $0.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.68. The company had a trading volume of 6,655,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,209,059. The stock has a market cap of $57.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $52.61. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 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.