Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Sold by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 19.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 602,540 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 146,664 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $30,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,480,995,000 after acquiring an additional 899,699 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,450,384,000 after acquiring an additional 690,736 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $849,945,000 after acquiring an additional 435,963 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 target price on Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.50 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.1%

NYSE:FCX opened at $58.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.32. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $35.15 and a one year high of $70.96. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.24 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

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

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.