Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,367,924 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 41,386 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.93% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $509,051,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $595,702,000 after buying an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $619,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $162,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,103 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

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Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 8.8 %

Shares of FCX stock traded down $3.36 on Thursday, hitting $34.84. 15,758,998 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,416,067. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.98 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $38.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.07 billion, a PE ratio of 27.01, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $52.04.

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.