Voleon Capital Management LP Lowers Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Key Points

• Voleon Capital Management LP has drastically reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. by 87.7%, now holding only 12,142 shares after selling 86,596 shares during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings in Freeport-McMoRan, with Brighton Jones LLC raising its stake by 24.2% and Focus Partners Wealth growing its stake by an astounding 1,794.0% in the last quarter.
• Despite Voleon's sell-off, analysts are optimistic about Freeport-McMoRan's performance, with an average target price of $51.00 and a rating of "Moderate Buy" according to MarketBeat.com.

Voleon Capital Management LP cut its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 87.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,142 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 86,596 shares during the period. Voleon Capital Management LP's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. First Dallas Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the first quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 113,541 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $4,299,000 after buying an additional 665 shares during the period. Guardian Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the first quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. now owns 67,015 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,358,000 after purchasing an additional 4,850 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.0% during the first quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 861,628 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,621,000 after purchasing an additional 56,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.5% during the first quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 52,455 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 13,161 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $56.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock traded down $1.20 on Friday, hitting $44.72. The company had a trading volume of 16,042,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,379,598. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $43.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.12. The stock has a market cap of $64.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.59.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.