Russell Investments Group Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,109,519 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 38,786 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.15% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $89,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CM Management LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% in the third quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $14,726,000 after purchasing an additional 20,894 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $279,977,000 after purchasing an additional 102,466 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $27,572,000 after purchasing an additional 240,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $201,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock traded up $1.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.50. 19,037,059 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,097,275. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.38. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $52.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Bernstein Bank lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.