Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 9,767 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Financial Counselors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 52.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,975 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 9,767 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $162,964,000 after buying an additional 2,515,103 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in 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 buying an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 136.0% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,635,724 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $81,655,000 after acquiring an additional 942,701 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.36 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $38.14 and its 200 day moving average is $41.96. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $33.98 and a one year high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $55.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly 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, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current 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 payout ratio is 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.