Marathon Asset Management Ltd Sells 57,385 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Marathon Asset Management Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 11.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 428,340 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 57,385 shares during the period. Marathon Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $21,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.1% in the third quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,650 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $831,000 after buying an additional 1,246 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the third quarter. Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,195 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,158,000 after buying an additional 3,504 shares during the period. Buffington Mohr McNeal lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.0% in the third quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 120,631 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $6,022,000 after buying an additional 3,520 shares during the period. Finally, Cumberland Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.3% during the third quarter. Cumberland Advisors Inc. now owns 91,850 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $4,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.18. The company had a trading volume of 8,819,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,123,217. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The company has a market capitalization of $69.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.89. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on FCX. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.29.

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.