Artemis Investment Management LLP Lowers Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Artemis Investment Management LLP lessened its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 58.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 256,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 355,650 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $9,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clarius Group LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 8,823 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 316,973 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $12,070,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,513.4% during the 4th quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 268,639 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,230,000 after purchasing an additional 251,989 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,315 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,040,000 after buying an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Finally, Shelton Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 41.2% during the fourth quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,130 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $995,000 after buying an additional 7,620 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FCX. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $40.27 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.26 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.25 and a 200-day moving average of $44.27.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.90%.

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.