Stratos Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Stratos Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,763 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 16,455 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% in the 3rd 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. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $36,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, CICC Research raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $61.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $88.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.48. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $69.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.14.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 19.87%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chairman owned 3,356,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $216,975,679.35. The trade was a 4.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 79,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,917,475.70. This trade represents a 37.77% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 565,145 shares of company stock worth $35,839,918. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.