Moore Capital Management LP Decreases Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Moore Capital Management LP reduced its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 91.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,495 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 2,917,700 shares during the period. Moore Capital Management LP’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $13,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in 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 worth $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,014,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924,573 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $721,806,000 after acquiring an additional 7,192,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,366,596 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $882,050,000 after acquiring an additional 3,894,872 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.31.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $68.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $99.12 billion, a PE ratio of 36.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.15 and a fifty-two week high of $72.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.