Sargent Investment Group LLC Sells 1,040 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Sargent Investment Group LLC trimmed its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,130 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,040 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $28,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6,469.2% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 854 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 122.5% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 930 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bernstein Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $50.50 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $72.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a P/E/G ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $52.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.40.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.