Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC Sells 10,850 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 800,451 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 10,850 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan accounts for about 2.9% of Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC owned 0.06% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $30,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $48.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares in the company, valued at $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $43.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $62.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $52.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.

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