Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX Shares Sold by Thornburg Investment Management Inc.

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,854,853 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,060,970 shares during the quarter. Freeport-McMoRan accounts for about 0.9% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $72,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Proffitt & Goodson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 39.8% in the third quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 977 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.73.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $68.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.59, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.19. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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 company 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%.Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders 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 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.87%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total value of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. This represents a 21.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction 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 owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 603,140 shares of company stock valued at $37,660,139 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

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.