Korea Investment CORP Sells 1,356,381 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 50.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,350,231 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,356,381 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.09% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $51,417,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,436,455,000 after purchasing an additional 529,099 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in 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. Amundi lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $595,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.6 %

NYSE FCX opened at $39.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.98 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.98.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.26%.

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.