Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Sells 11,993 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co cut its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 37.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,259 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 11,993 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $162,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,103 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $37.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,699,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,722,423. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $36.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $53.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is currently 24.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.