Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stock Position Reduced by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 316,035 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 8,124 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $13,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Webster Bank N. A. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on FCX. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $49.91 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.04, a PEG ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $52.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,707,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $187,438,509.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.