Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 5,398 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co reduced its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 131,125 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 5,398 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $4,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $162,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,103 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the 3rd 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. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 136.0% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,635,724 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $81,655,000 after purchasing an additional 942,701 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $39.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.98. The firm has a market cap of $57.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.98 and a 1 year high of $55.24.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FCX. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Argus cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.04.

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.