Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Lowers Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,980 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,118 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,489,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 10,606 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,840 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 965 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 16,844 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 45,869 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,710,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE:FCX traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $48.00. 19,436,847 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,933,710. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.06. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $68.85 billion, a PE ratio of 37.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 23.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.15.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.