Chiron Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Chiron Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 94.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,532 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 167,271 shares during the quarter. Chiron Investment Management LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $476,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% during the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $7,375,000 after purchasing an additional 85,542 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 71,883 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,604,000 after purchasing an additional 12,887 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 432,126 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $21,572,000 after purchasing an additional 107,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 202,440 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $10,393,000 after purchasing an additional 35,972 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock traded up $0.38 on Wednesday, reaching $43.05. The stock had a trading volume of 4,580,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,807,016. The stock has a market cap of $61.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.60 and a beta of 1.86. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.32.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.