Capital International Ltd. CA Sells 95,266 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Capital International Ltd. CA decreased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 34.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 184,708 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 95,266 shares during the quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% in the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on FCX shares. Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX opened at $60.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $69.75. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.84 billion, a PE ratio of 40.01, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.87%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total value of $9,888,864.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,356,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,975,679.35. The trade was a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock valued at $37,660,139. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.