Founders Financial Securities LLC Trims Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Founders Financial Securities LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 34.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,529 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 11,183 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,769 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,193,327,000 after buying an additional 395,226 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after buying an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $68.80 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.90 billion, a PE ratio of 36.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.15 and a 12 month high of $72.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The business had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 15.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $66.00 price target (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.81.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.