USS Investment Management Ltd Sells 30,095 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

USS Investment Management Ltd lessened its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 276,304 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 30,095 shares during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $10,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings 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 worth $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings 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 worth $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FCX shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of 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, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $38.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $55.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $54.95. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.81.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 24.79%.

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.