Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Sculptor Capital LP

Sculptor Capital LP reduced its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 59.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 318,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 457,000 shares during the period. Sculptor Capital LP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $12,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 valued at $351,041,000 after buying an additional 6,486,011 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the 4th 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 boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Wolfe Research raised 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 note on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.01 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $54.63 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.95.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm 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 business earned $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.