Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP lowered its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 62.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 709,225 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,172,666 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $27,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $3,388,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 159,536 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,075,000 after acquiring an additional 8,195 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 220.3% during the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 40,467 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 27,834 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 0.9%

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $53.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.80.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The business 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 business’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 firm earned $0.32 EPS. Analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.36.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.