Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Position Lowered by Syntax Research Inc.

Syntax Research Inc. trimmed its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 19.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,173 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 12,645 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan accounts for about 2.0% of Syntax Research Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Syntax Research Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after acquiring an additional 622,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after acquiring an additional 395,226 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on FCX. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.7%

FCX stock opened at $60.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $87.04 billion, a PE ratio of 32.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.15. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.15 and a fifty-two week high of $72.28. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 15.96%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.