Paloma Partners Management Co Decreases Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Paloma Partners Management Co reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 79.6%, selling 488,000 shares and leaving it with 125,000 shares valued at approximately $4.73 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter, with AQR Capital Management notably raising its stake by 127.8%.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently reported earnings of $0.54 per share for the quarter, beating analysts' expectations and showing a 14.5% year-over-year revenue increase.

Paloma Partners Management Co decreased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 79.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,000 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 488,000 shares during the period. Paloma Partners Management Co's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $4,732,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stratos Investment Management LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 238.5% during the first quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 64,519 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $2,443,000 after buying an additional 45,458 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 18.5% in the first quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 39,571 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,498,000 after purchasing an additional 6,188 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.2% in the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 421,469 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $15,957,000 after purchasing an additional 8,989 shares during the period. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 527.9% in the first quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. now owns 76,127 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,882,000 after purchasing an additional 64,003 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Hoagland & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.6% in the first quarter. Anderson Hoagland & Co. now owns 109,565 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 23,695 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $0.30 on Friday, reaching $46.37. 8,068,482 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,633,279. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $52.61. The firm has a market cap of $66.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.64 and a 200-day moving average of $39.86.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Stifel Canada raised Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.00.

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.