Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lessened its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 160,772 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 51,530 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $8,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after acquiring an additional 13,143,562 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth $417,752,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $712,600,000 after purchasing an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at $197,966,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth $162,464,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FCX. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $43.13 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.96 billion, a PE ratio of 31.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $46.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.46. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.55 and a 52-week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.90%.

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.