Gabelli Funds LLC Trims Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Gabelli Funds LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 10.8% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,186,200 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 143,850 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $69,725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,434,000 after acquiring an additional 9,924,573 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $721,806,000 after purchasing an additional 7,192,955 shares during the period. PointState Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $198,523,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,366,596 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $882,050,000 after purchasing an additional 3,894,872 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Freeport-McMoRan

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: FCX reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $0.74 and revenue of $7.03 billion, both ahead of Wall Street estimates, helped by higher realized copper and gold prices. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Management said the Grasberg ramp remains on schedule, U.S. operations are improving, and the brownfield copper pipeline is expanding, which supports longer-term production growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on FCX to $73 from $70, signaling continued analyst confidence in the stock’s upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent writeups highlighted strong income growth, free cash flow, and the benefit of firmer copper prices, reinforcing the investment case for FCX. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.18.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:FCX opened at $62.54 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $35.15 and a one year high of $72.28. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The business had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.