Capital International Sarl Cuts Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Capital International Sarl lowered its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 366,306 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 189,292 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $14,367,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 19.5% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,548,801 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $452,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885,916 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,702,237 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $302,082,000 after acquiring an additional 240,687 shares during the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 570.1% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 13,984 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 11,897 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.7% in the third quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 205,454 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $8,031,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 87.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 4,115,008 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $152,749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,921,792 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $60.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $86.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.98 and its 200-day moving average is $49.53. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $69.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 19.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on FCX. UBS Group lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,509,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $220,372,673.20. This trade represents a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.