Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Position Lessened by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,367,924 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 41,386 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $509,051,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,436,455,000 after purchasing an additional 529,099 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after buying an additional 4,488,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 4.0 %

FCX stock opened at $38.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.97. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.98 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on FCX. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

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.