Capital Research Global Investors Sells 19,097,791 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Capital Research Global Investors trimmed its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 31.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,024,835 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 19,097,791 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors owned approximately 2.93% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $1,648,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,760,188 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,049,975,000 after buying an additional 1,776,241 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,480,995,000 after buying an additional 899,699 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,787,174 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,678,474,000 after purchasing an additional 320,514 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,671,223 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $849,945,000 after buying an additional 435,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $761,623,000 after acquiring an additional 8,292,873 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,894 shares in the company, valued at $4,917,475.70. The trade was a 37.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 3,509,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $220,372,673.20. The trade was a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Freedom Capital upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $60.42 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $69.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.29 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $86.84 billion, a PE ratio of 40.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.53.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 19.87%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.