Verus Capital Partners LLC Sells 14,171 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Verus Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 51,119 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 14,171 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% during the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $7,375,000 after acquiring an additional 85,542 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 71,883 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,604,000 after buying an additional 12,887 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 432,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $21,572,000 after buying an additional 107,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.6% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 202,440 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $10,393,000 after buying an additional 35,972 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on FCX shares. Raymond James boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $44.90 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.46 and a 200-day moving average of $47.54. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.38 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $64.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.