West Family Investments Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

West Family Investments Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 91.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,093 shares of the natural resource company's stock after selling 66,437 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.'s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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, October 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX traded down $0.42 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.70. 8,727,870 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,907,558. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.04 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.22. The stock has a market cap of $62.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.91.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. 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.