Clearbridge Investments LLC Decreases Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,932,930 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 676,731 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 1.04% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $758,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 49.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 221,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,267,000 after acquiring an additional 73,002 shares in the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,857,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 426.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 81,892 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,212,000 after acquiring an additional 66,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 175.4% during the 4th quarter. Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 1,379,760 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $70,078,000 after acquiring an additional 878,760 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Freedom Capital raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $63.37 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $63.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.17. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $72.09. The firm has a market cap of $91.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.71, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The company had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given 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 Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.