Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 143,850 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Gabelli Funds LLC trimmed its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 10.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,186,200 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 143,850 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC owned about 0.08% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $69,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after buying an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,244,504,000 after acquiring an additional 622,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,193,327,000 after acquiring an additional 395,226 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 34,262,241 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,740,179,000 after acquiring an additional 3,130,046 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $62.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.15 and a 52 week high of $72.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $63.58 and its 200 day moving average is $62.33. The company has a market cap of $89.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 15.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup restated a “positive” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.18.

Freeport-McMoRan News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: FCX reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $0.74 and revenue of $7.03 billion, both ahead of Wall Street estimates, helped by higher realized copper and gold prices. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the Grasberg ramp remains on schedule, U.S. operations are improving, and the brownfield copper pipeline is expanding, which supports longer-term production growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on FCX to $73 from $70, signaling continued analyst confidence in the stock’s upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent writeups highlighted strong income growth, free cash flow, and the benefit of firmer copper prices, reinforcing the investment case for FCX. Article Title

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.