Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Stake Decreased by Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 54.8% during the first quarter, selling 253,832 shares and now holding 209,562 shares valued at approximately $7.93 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Vanguard Group and Price T Rowe Associates, have increased their positions in Freeport-McMoRan, demonstrating ongoing institutional interest in the company.
• Freeport-McMoRan recently reported earnings of $0.54 per share, exceeding consensus estimates and marking a 14.5% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 54.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 209,562 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 253,832 shares during the quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,934,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 238.5% in the first quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 64,519 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $2,443,000 after acquiring an additional 45,458 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 39,571 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,498,000 after purchasing an additional 6,188 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.2% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. raised its position in 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. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.6% during the first quarter. Anderson Hoagland & Co. now owns 109,565 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 23,695 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Stifel Canada upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $0.98 during trading on Thursday, reaching $45.86. 14,918,063 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,438,299. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.59. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $52.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.69 and a 200-day moving average of $40.00. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.09. The company 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%.Freeport-McMoRan's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.