Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Verus Capital Partners LLC

Verus Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,119 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 14,171 shares during the quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $5,675,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,833 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,734,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392,800 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $712,600,000 after buying an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,454,789 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $679,664,000 after acquiring an additional 200,877 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $1.30 on Tuesday, reaching $43.60. 17,739,347 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,918,399. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.38 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $62.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. The firm's 50-day moving average is $46.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 21.90%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

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.