Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. Sells 20,581 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD. reduced its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 34.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,001 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 20,581 shares during the quarter. Capital Group Investment Management PTE. LTD.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,702,237 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $302,082,000 after purchasing an additional 240,687 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 570.1% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 13,984 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 11,897 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.7% in the third quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 205,454 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $8,031,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 87.6% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 4,115,008 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $152,749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,921,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.0% during the third quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 6,586 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. CICC Research lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned 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 $62.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total value of $9,888,864.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,356,159 shares in the company, valued at $216,975,679.35. This trade represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total value of $2,985,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,917,475.70. This trade represents a 37.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of FCX opened at $60.42 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.84 billion, a PE ratio of 40.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $69.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The company’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.87%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.