Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,518,984 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 183,253 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $381,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 221,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,267,000 after buying an additional 73,002 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,551,258 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $60,840,000 after buying an additional 115,285 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 278.4% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 46,157 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,810,000 after buying an additional 33,959 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $8,857,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the third 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 during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.8%

Shares of FCX opened at $64.32 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.15 and a 52 week high of $70.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market capitalization of $92.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $61.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.79.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. CICC Research cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.72.

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.